House of Cards
by Purloined Letter
Summary: Daniel Masters always had a feeling his father knew much more than he was telling about his mother's sudden vanishing when he was an infant. After making a pair of new friends in the ghost researchers Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, he decides to start digging for the truth about his past. Unfortunately for Danny, Vlad is very busy trying to acquire a halfa son.
1. Special Global Access

"For the fortieth or fiftieth time now." Vlad Masters spoke with an air of deadly finality, hoping to diffuse the situation before his son became even more insistent than he already was. "No, Daniel, you may _not_ go to a public school this year." Vlad shook his head, his expression a mask of disappointment. "You ask repeatedly every single year, and _every single year_ I find myself having to reiterate my stance on the matter." The older man leveled an arctic glare at Danny while settling down into his plush armchair and his tone was as chilly. "I'm growing exceedingly weary of having this particular conversation, as you very well know. Especially because we both know what my answer will be before you even ask the question, correct?"

 _I should have known it'd be the same as always. Why do I even bother trying to ask anymore?_ thought Daniel (Danny to most everyone else but his dad) Masters as he suppressed a disgusted, frustrated huff while he adjusted the cuff of his dark blue suit jacket, trying to avoid eye contact with his father. _I don't see why he thinks personal tutors are so much better. Plenty of kids go through public schools and turn out just fine, don't they? I'd just like to actually interact with other kids my age for once; I know he's overly paranoid about me being kidnapped after what happened to Mom, but it's starting to get a little on the ridiculous side. I'm almost fifteen years old now- I think I can more than handle taking care of myself, at least as far as school and actually going places by myself once in a while goes._

Vlad cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward in his chair, his half-crossed arms coming to rest on his antique, very ornate cherrywood desk. He assumed a much warmer tone of voice as he began speaking again, and his whole body seemed to relax and become more open, trying to invite conversation. "Come now, Daniel; be honest with me- it's just the two of us at the moment. Are you dissatisfied with your current set of tutors or something like that?" Vlad smiled. "I can _very_ quickly and easily replace one or even all of them if needed- just tell me what you'd like and it'll be done before the end of the day today."

"No, no, it's nothing like that, Dad. They're all great, seriously." Danny waved his hand and head in protest as he sat down in a large brown plush armchair across from his father's desk. "It's just...kind of boring out here by myself with no one else my age." He grimaced. "My tutors really try their best, but it's just not quite the same as having someone my age to talk to."

"Aha. Getting restless and feeling cooped up staying here at the manor, are you?" Vlad nodded and rose out of his chair, indicating for Danny to follow him. "I suppose that's to be expected since we haven't been able to travel anywhere in a while thanks to how busy I've been with my business as of late." Vlad looked upwards in thought as he walked, rubbing his chin with his index finger as he strolled. "Perhaps a weekend by yourself out at the lakefront cabin would suffice for a little fresh air and relaxation, hmm?" he continued airily as Danny trailed a few steps behind him. "I realize it's not the same as the interaction that you desire with your peer group, of course, but perhaps it will still help somewhat to get away for a week or so."

Danny thought about the offer as they walked. "Uh, with the bodyguards tagging along?"

"Do you even have to _ask_ that question, Daniel?" asked Vlad in a lighthearted tone as he looked back at Danny over his shoulder. "The bodyguards are a non-negotiable condition of this little jaunt, naturally. They'll be ordered to strictly keep on the periphery of the property, however."

Danny sighed internally. He'd known the answer before he'd even asked, much like he'd known what the answer about public school would be. _Of_ course _, with the bodyguards. But maybe while I'm there I'll have a chance to run into someone my age..._ "Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe I could use a change of scenery."

"Well I suggest that you get to packing then, Little Badger," laughed Vlad as he stopped walking and cuffed Danny on the shoulder playfully after Danny finished approaching him. "I'll call and arrange to have you taken to the plane while you do that." After he watched Danny's retreating back disappear down the hallway and heard his son's feet clattering up the staircase Vlad took out his cellphone and pushed the button he'd assigned to speed-dial his security team. "Prepare a team for the plane and lakefront cabin- I want you to rent out all of the other cabins surrounding the cabin for the weekend as well. If anyone is in one of them already, offer them enough cash so that they'll leave immediately and take however much it is out of the petty cash fund. Am I clear?" A smug, dark grin spread across his face as Vlad listened to the affirmative reply. " _Very_ good; I knew you wouldn't let me down. Thank you."

As Danny walked down the third-floor hallway to his room, he let his glance briefly pass over the various pictures on the roughly textured cream-colored walls. He then found that he was yet again mulling over something he'd first noticed when he was about ten years old, something that still bugged him periodically for some reason ever since the day he'd first realized it- the strange lack of anyone on the walls besides his father and himself. Of course, the one time that Danny _had_ summoned up the nerve to ask about it a couple of years ago his father had insisted that it was too painful to ever look at any photos of his mother, so he'd had them all taken down quite a long time ago- and had then indicated very, _very_ strongly that it wasn't something to be brought up again. Even though his father hadn't used what Danny termed his 'talk's over' tone and Vlad had actually been fairly lighthearted during the brief conversation, the billionaire's body language told a very different story and Danny had immediately known to not broach the subject again. _I mean, I can understand it being a painful thing to talk about and everything, but why won't he ever answer any questions about her?_

Danny pulled open the white door to his incredibly lavish, spacious walk-in closet and began pulling out a few jeans and T-shirts; his dad would have his head (and then some) if he went out hiking on the trails around the cabin in one of his three-piece suits. _Come to think of it, he's never talked too much about her kidnapping either- just that she vanished one night when I was really little without so much as a goodbye._ He'd never really drilled his father too deeply about his mother and the events surrounding her disappearance because it was obvious that it was still highly sensitive terrain to step across even after so many years, but Danny had really found himself beginning to wonder more and more lately about her- or rather the _lack_ of her anywhere, he supposed. _Is it really the best thing for Dad's mental health to avoid talking about what happened so much?_

And _then_ there was his dad's incredibly ingrained paranoia to deal with- the elephant in the room that Vlad seemed to resolutely refuse to ever acknowledge even though it had been taking up room in the manor for far too long. Constant checks on where Danny was, a regular barrage of calls to 'check up' on him, bodyguards that followed him wherever he went... _I know that because of what happened to Mom he's a little more paranoid than he probably should be, but it really,_ really _gets out of hand sometimes._ The teenager paused and rethought that over for a few moments. _OK, make that_ a lot _of the time._

"Daniel, the car will be here in fifteen minutes and they're preparing the plane as well," came Vlad's voice up the stairs. "Call me once you get there and let me know if they've failed to stock the food and drink by the time you arrive."

"Okay, thanks Dad. I'll be done in a few minutes," Danny called in reply before searching around for his hiking boots. _You know, our pilot's been working for Dad for a long time...I wonder if he'd know anything about my mother._ It was then something new dawned on him for the very first time, something that he hadn't even realized for some reason until that exact moment:

He not only had no clue how his mom looked, he didn't even know his mother's _name_.

 _That_ was something he was going to find out one way or the other, elephants be damned.

* * *

"You ever heard of the legends about Lake Eerie, Sam?" laughed Tucker Foley as he poked his friend lightly in her upper arm while they walked down Casper High's front steps at the end of the school day. "I think everyone from around here knows at least one of the stories about that place."

"I've read every book on the lake three times," replied Samantha Manson evenly as she offered Tucker a raised-eyebrow 'are you serious right now?' look. "You _do_ know that it's _me_ you're talking to about this, right Tucker?"

Tucker snickered, knowing he shouldn't have bothered to even ask- if it was spooky or weird or ultrarecylovegetarian, Samantha Manson was interested. "OK. Then you've heard about the vanishing cabin renters, I'm sure?"

"Again for emphasis. _Me_ , Tuck." Sam nodded in the affirmative and offered a half-grin before she spoke in a serious tone. "Always seems to happen randomly- like the whole lake just shuts down, even if it's right in the middle of summer. Super quiet and weird- I've actually been out there a time or two when it happens. The only indication that any of the renters are still even alive is that you'll sometimes catch all their cars suddenly heading out of town like their pants were all on fire." Her mouth set into a grim line before she leaned in and whispered to her friend. "Ol' Spooky's got something to do with it, I'm telling you." The pair wandered over to a secluded bench to keep talking, knowing that if anyone overheard them they'd probably wind up with weird stares at best and in an insane asylum at worst.

Tucker quirked an eyebrow before realizing who- or rather, what- Sam had been speaking of. "Uh, Old- _Oh_ , you mean the ghost we saw out at the lake with the crazy black and white hair?" He wiggled his fingers up above his head to try and imitate the ghost's crazy hairdo.

"Yeah, that's the one. I bet he keeps scaring everyone off. Can't blame people- he really _is_ creepy looking." Sam glanced around furtively before chomping on one of her sandwiches that she extracted out of her backpack. "I wish we could talk one of those rich people out there on the lake into letting us camp out in their yard overnight or something. Maybe we could _finally_ get definitive proof about ghosts!" Just then a very expensive looking black stretch limo rounded the corner, pitch black windows completely obscuring the driver and any and all passengers as it slowly rolled down the street in front of Casper High before hanging a left.

"Ooh, fancy," Tucker muttered aloud as the sleek limo vanished down a side street.

Sam's eyes widened with realization. " **TUCK**! They were heading towards the lake! Let's go after them!" Sam half-charged after the limo, grabbing the sleeve of Tucker's long shirt and dragging him along. "We may have just found our ticket to an overnight campout at the lake!"

"Um, may I point out that we have absolutely _zero_ clue who the person or people in the limo are?" Tucker let out a put-upon sigh after he pointed this out, though he allowed himself to be dragged along by his friend in the direction of the lake.

* * *

"Uh, _wow_." Tucker let out a whistle as they studied the massive wrought iron gates that the limo had turned into after trailing it for about two miles. A large cursive 'M' was boldly emblazoned on either side of the well-maintained, pointy steel barrier. The scent of the nearby lake filled the brilliant afternoon air, the sounds of nature surrounding the hidden estate they were stealthily visiting and scouting out- or rather, trying to check out, considering how concealed it was. "O _kay_ , I officially upgrade my assessment of whoever this is from 'rich' to 'Scrooge McDuck swimming in his vault rich'."

Sam nodded, her eyes still a little wide as she took in the gate and the fence that subtly secured whatever massive kind of home had to be concealed behind the wrought iron and lush greenery. "Yeah. I thought _my_ parents had a nice place- man, this property's gotta be _huge_. This fence looks like it goes forever." She then slowly stepped forward and started inspecting the gate, trying to see if she could find a call button or a call phone to try and get a hold of whoever the passenger heading to the house had been. "Huh...dang it. No kind of buzzer or anything, and I don't see a guard gate either. That's weird. Maybe there's another entrance somewhere that we're missing."

"Can we, _ahem_ , help you two with something?" A very authoritative, stern-sounding older male voice issued suddenly from up and left of the pair, causing them to both let out a yelp of surprise before turning their glances up to the direction that the voice had come from, which seemed to be issuing from some kind of hidden speaker somewhere at the top of the gate. And judging by what they'd said, there was probably some kind of concealed camera nearby as well. "Or will we need to call the police and report loitering and attempted trespassing?"

Tucker swallowed nervously before he spoke. "Uh...we were...actually hoping to talk to whoever lives here, about maybe camping out in the back yard by the lake this weekend? We wanted to try and get some readings and pictures-"

A slight static hissed from the disguised speaker before the voice spoke again, interrupting Tucker. "I am afraid that that won't be possible. The owner would never permit such a thing. Now please _do_ kindly remove yourselves from the premises before we're forced to remove you with the aid of the police. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. This conversation is now over." As the intercom crackled again, the sound drifted off into the air.

"Dang it. There goes that plan, I guess." Sam scowled a bit, kicking at the dirt and dejection in her voice as the pair of friends started to head away from the building.

Tucker tried to give his friend a conciliatory smile as he shrugged his shoulders while they began to head back towards town. "Well, I guess that is kinda what we get for randomly chasing that limo. As I tried to point out before we began our little jaunt, we had no idea who they were or if they'd let us stay. No harm, no foul, and at least they didn't try and get us arrested immediately, right?" He plucked one of his multiple Blackberries from his backpack and unlocked it, nodding as he glanced at the screen and tapped buttons. "According to my GPS we'll both be back to our houses in about an hour, if we keep up our current pace."

" _Psst_." A young-sounding male voice issued from a bush to Sam and Tucker's left after they'd been walking for a bit, causing them both to jump again. "In the bush over here. You're trying to get into that big property down the road with the M on the gate, right? I heard and saw you two talking to the guards earlier."

"Yeah, actually." Sam stared at the bush, trying to figure out if it was another speaker before she saw a vaguely human, hunched over outline in the bush and took a few steps back, Tucker quirking an eyebrow at his friend's reaction before he also spied the person lurking in the shrubbery and also backed up. When Sam continued, her ton was surprised. "Whoa, who are you and, uh, why are you hiding in that bush?"

"I, er, live there, or I guess I'm staying there right now technically." A blue-eyed, black-haired boy slightly poked his head out of the top of the hedge and offered a tight smile to Tucker and Sam, the boy wearing a simple white T-shirt and blue jogging shorts and tennis shoes. "But I kinda snuck out for a walk and now I'm trying to get back in without them noticing I'm gone. 'Cause if they notice I got out without them noticing, they'll only tighten security up and then I won't be able to shake them when I want to." He glanced around warily before ducking back into the bush. "I'm Danny Masters by the way. Well, Daniel, but _please_ just call me Danny."

Tucker snickered and nodded towards the other, hidden teen. "Alright then, Danny, but why are you talking to us instead of just sneaking back in the way you went out? And I'm Tucker Foley. Nice to meet you, even if this meeting is a little weird."

 _He's...kinda cute_. Sam had let her thoughts drift a bit upon first seeing Danny, but she immediately refocused on the present. _Hey, if we play this right he could be our ticket in to finally getting some readings and data on Old Spooky! Not to mention the weirdness with the vanishing cabin renters._ "I'm Samantha Manson, but _please_ just call me Sam. And I do have to echo Tuck's question."

"They re-shut the back garden gate on me after I left- usually I just leave it a tiny bit ajar and get back in that way, and there's no way to open the gate from the outside." Danny sighed, the bushes quivering a bit as he exhaled. "I know another way in, but I need the guards distracted long enough so that I can use it. How about we make a deal? You guys help me get back in by distracting the guards, and I'll see if I can persuade Dad to let you camp out in the backyard by the lake. I mean, he's not here with me, but I'd still have to run it by him because if I don't, I know the guards will and _that_ won't end nearly as well."

"Uh, let us confer on that for a moment and get back to you." Tucker inclined his head to a spot on the other side of the road before giving Sam a 'We're going over there' look. "I'd say to hang out there, but I'm pretty sure you will, especially if your clothes get snagged." He laughed loudly at his own joke before heading across the street and waiting for Sam.

Sam nodded at Tucker and immediately began with "I think we should help him out" as soon as she arrived. "Think about it, Tuck. This could be our ticket in to unlimited access to the lake and the cabins, and maybe some funding too if we manage to really get in good with Danny! Did you catch his last name?"

"Yeah? He said Masters, right?" Tucker's eyes suddenly went wide as dinner plates as he mentally added two and two and the large M on the gate of the massive property. "Oh man you don't think he's the son of-"

"Our local billionaire _Vlad_ Masters? Probably, considering that he owns property here in _Amity Park_ of all places and the size of the property and the security. No real reason to own anything around here unless you're _from_ here or are into the paranormal, right?" She glanced back over towards the bush Danny was hiding in and snickered. "Plus I don't think that he's lying to us and really _does_ need help. Hiding in the shrubs and reaching out to total strangers for help is an act of a desperate man- or teenager, in this case." She then frowned. "Kinda strange, though, isn't it? I don't remember ever seeing him around before or hearing that Vlad ever had any kids at all, and Vlad's kind of a big deal around here."

Tucker mulled it over, looking skyward and rubbing his chin. "I guess. _Plus_ that would explain why he wants to shake his security detail now and again- I know _I'd_ go nuts if I had big men in suits watching my every move." He then nodded in agreement with Sam. "I bet Vlad's always had him in private school, so we've probably just never seen him around because of that- probably wants him out of the limelight and stuff. We _should_ probably come to a decision, though. I know my personal vote is 'help, with caution.' Like asking for his ID before we dive headfirst into this, for instance, because I've _definitely_ never heard of Vlad having a soon or seen any pictures of a son."

Sam smiled at Tucker. "We're in agreement then. Operation Help Danny is underway, if he'll show us something with ID on it." The two walked back over to where Danny was waiting. "OK, so. We'll help you, but if we get carted off by the cops, you're paying all our legal fees and bail." She then held out a hand. "And no offense, but could we see some kind of ID? If we help you break in and we find out Vlad doesn't have any kids that'd make us look pretty bad- and probably get us in even worse trouble."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, that's understandable." Danny laughed nervously before scrounging around in his pockets, the bush shaking again. "I don't have a school ID or anything because I don't go to a school that would make me carry one, but would a Vladco access card work? Dad has me carry one around in case he needs me to run an errand there for him." An ID poked out through the bushes bearing the Vladco logo and Danny's smiling face with the words 'SPECIAL GLOBAL ACCESS' emblazoned in bold gold lettering across the bottom of one side of the white card, a silver magnetic stripe and the same 'SPECIAL GLOBAL ACCESS' golden wording on the other side. Tucker took the proffered card and studied it closely before pulling out another of his PDAs and placing the card across it. The screen suddenly lit up bright green, code flying across the handheld's screen.

"Good enough for me- my PDA doesn't lie, that's a legitimate access card," Tucker replied with a smile to Danny before placing it back into the other boy's hand before Danny's hand retreated back into the bushes and giving Sam a nod. "Can't fully test the thing since we're not at my place for the fancier stuff, of course, but the magnetic stripe is definitely real and throwing data out. Plus, that's Danny in the picture for sure."

Sam nodded and smiled at both boys. "Well if it's good enough for Tuck, it's good enough for me too. Time to initiate Operation Help Danny." The pair of friends marched back towards the front gate with a renewed sense of purpose, Danny skulking along in the bushes beside them.


	2. Memories and Black Bears

"Alright. Here goes nothin'." Tucker confidently pushed the gate call button Danny had told them to use after they finished re-approaching the massive, ornate gate, Sam nodding with a determined expression on her face beside him.

"You two _again_? I believe I made myself _perfectly_ clear the first time that we cannot accommodate your request. We _will_ be calling the police if you don't vacate the premises within the next minute. And _yes_ , before you two decide to be smart alecks and ask, the property extends out to the road and includes the sidewalk." The exasperated, no-nonsense female voice issuing through the gate speaker brooked no argument.

"Uh, we were just hoping if we asked _really_ nicely that you might let us talk to whoever's staying here, 'cause there's _gotta_ be someone staying here that isn't you guys. _Pretty_ please? We really wanna camp out overnight and take some pictures of um, the wildlife and stuff." Tucker was desperately playing for time, hoping that they would manage to get Danny enough time for him to use this 'other entrance' that he said he was going to use. The other boy had snuck off in the bushes further towards the left side of the massive 'cabin' that was really more like a mansion as soon as Sam and Tucker had arrived at the front steps and he was certain that the camera wouldn't catch him.

"Yeah! Unless you're some _really_ expensive property babysitters watching the place for someone, there's gotta be someone here to ask!" Sam joined the effort to distract the guards. "Come _on_ , just let us talk to whoever's staying here so we can ask them directly and we'll be out of your hair and out of your life, promise. If they say no, we'll leave peacefully."

There was an audible snort through the hidden speaker. "Well, the police well certainly get you out of our hair peacefully, _and_ we also won't have to bother the owner with your request. So I believe we'll choose Option B- calling the police. Which I am _going_ to do as soon as I end this sentence, by the way." The speaker clicked off and Sam immediately started looking around. "Rocks," she muttered under her breath to Tucker as she moved away from the large gate and began scanning the ground, grabbing at any decently sized pebbles or rocks she could find.

"Huh? Oh, I get it." Tucker nodded and also started a search for rocks, gathering a few in his hands. "Are we just gonna chuck them randomly over the fence and hope we hit someone, or is there more to the plan?"

Sam nodded. "The idea is to make enough noise to keep them in a certain area- in this case, away from the side of the house Danny went scooting off towards. If this is the kind of security system I think it is, it's probably like my parent's and should have a noise and motion sensor as part of it." To test her theory, she lobbed a stone over the fence and smirked when an alarm started wailing. "Bingo. Now we keep them running back and forth around here till Danny gives the all clear. Overnight access to Lake Eerie, here we come!"

Tucker grinned before wandering down the fence line a bit and chucking another rock over the fence. A second alarm started blaring, and the grass-muffled sound of running could be heard headed in their direction on the other side. After the running stopped, a familiar-sounding female voice issued faintly. "False alarm. Repeat, false alarm. Looks like it was just kids chucking some rocks over the fence. Do you want me to go after them? And has anyone checked on Danny?" Almost as if in reply to the question, the garden gate slammed open and shut even further down the fence, the sound echoing in the evening air- the signal the pair and Danny had agreed to. "Affirmative. Starting pursuit."

Tucker and Sam's eyes widened as they heard the words, both deciding to run as far and as fast as they could for now and come back later when the heat had died off. They bobbed and ducked and weaved through alleys and side streets, both hoping that their pursuer didn't know the area as well as they did, the outskirts of Amity Park flashing by in blurs. They both ran for what felt like forever, eventually pausing at four way intersection a good way up the road to catch their breaths after looking around and feeling comfortable that they were no longer being chased. "Oh man. I hope we lost 'em," Tucker managed to get out. "I didn't expect them to actually _chase_ us like that. But I guess at least Vlad's definitely getting what he's paying for with those guys. Danny can leave 'em a glowing review."

"At least Danny managed to get in OK, right? We heard the gate." Sam shrugged as she finished recovering from the exertion. "Now we just have to wait for him to text us." They'd hastily exchanged numbers with Danny earlier as they'd walked back to the manor and discussed how to distract the guards. About ten minutes later, both their phones lit up.

 **OK, got in and no one even knew I was gone. Thanks again, and sorry if they actually ran after you, because it sounded like they did. Calling my dad now to ask him about you camping out in the yard.**

"YES!" Tucker and Sam high-fived each other. "Now to hope he agrees to it so we can get some footage of Old Spooky," finished Tucker with a wide grin. Time felt like molasses as they impatiently waited under a large tree for the answer. It seemed like hours, though was in actuality about five minutes, before they got a reply in the form of a group text.

 **Well, flat no from Dad, sorry. But I can show you guys a place to camp out almost right on the lake that I know that shouldn't be checked, if that makes up for it? Meet me at the abandoned gas station north of the lake at nine tonight- do you two know the one I mean?**

Tucker made a face. "Man, I was hoping to stay in the lap of luxury, but we'll take what we can get, right?" He shook his head as he typed his reply. **Yeah, I know the one. The Black Bear General Store off North Old Lake Road?**

 **Yep, the Black Bear right? See you then.** Sam shrugged after she texted Danny back as well. After Danny replied in the affirmative about the meeting spot, she glanced up at Tucker. "Yeah, _would_ have been nice to stay in his backyard but this is definitely better than nothing for sure. Now we should probably get home and start packing- it's almost five already."

"Yup. I'll swing by your place around eight, then we can head out? That gives us an hour to get there, and we should really only need thirty minutes if we stick to Old Lake Road." Tucker raised an eyebrow as he asked the question.

Sam nodded and grinned. "That sounds good. See you then, Tuck."

* * *

Across town, there was a firm knock on a bedroom door. "Jazz honey, are you still doing your homework?"

"Come in, Mom." Jasmine (" _Please_ call me Jazz") Fenton looked up from her algebra homework and gave her mom a smile as Maddie entered the room, the older woman in full ghost hunting gear, her assorted ghost hunting gadgets and weapons hanging off her making clanking and rattling noises of varying decibels as Maddie walked across the room to the desk her daughter was seated at. "I'm almost done, actually. I take it by the fact you're all kitted out that you and Dad are going to the Ghost Zone tonight?"

Maddie nodded, a frown crossing her features and a finger laying flat next to the Fenton Bazooka's trigger- it was a good thing, Jazz mused, that the safety was on and her mom always practiced perfect trigger discipline. They'd already had to replace parts of the first and second floors in the past thanks to her dad's accidents. "Yeah. Your dad and I may finally have another lead on the ghost, so we're heading to the Ghost Zone and following up on it while the info is fresh. We left you some money for pizza on the counter downstairs and there's apple pie for dessert in the fridge. Don't wait up for us." Her mother didn't need to specify further- all three of them knew _exactly_ which ghost that they were referring to when the subject of _the_ ghost was brought up.

The white and black-haired specter that had kidnapped the then six month old Daniel Fenton out of his crib almost fifteen years ago in the middle of the night from right under the entire family's noses, leaving the remaining Fenton family grieving and searching for their missing brother and son to this day. The ghost that the Fentons had been obsessively hunting after since the kidnapping, eventually going so far as building _a portal to the Ghost Zone itself_ in what had become the Fenton Works basement in search of the kidnapper and Danny. Even Fenton Works itself had been forever changed a result of the kidnapping, the ghost researchers becoming ghost hunters in the wake of Danny's disappearance and deciding that they'd need funds to continue the search, so why not develop ghost hunting tools _and_ get paid for developing them at the same time?

"OK, Mom. You and Dad stay safe in there, although I know you will." Jazz got up from her seat and gave her combat-geared mother a hug and smile that were both returned by Maddie before she left, Maddie shutting the door behind her after waving goodbye. The teen had just settled back down into her desk chair when a familiar voice issued from under her bed after a few moments of silence.

" _Psst_. They gone yet, J? It's gettin' cramped down here."

Jazz looked down at the floor and nodded in the direction of her bed- and her secreted best friend currently hiding under it. "Well not yet, but they're getting ready to leave very soon it sounds like. The coast should be clear by now." She then shook her head. "I _really_ wish you wouldn't hang out here so much, Emb, or that you'd at _least_ let me know when you decide sneak through the portal. You _know_ how Mom and Dad are about ghosts. If they ever decided to run a scan for ecto-energy while you were here and found you..." She let the sentence drift off, shuddering a bit at the thought. She adored her parents, but they could be... _rather_ ruthless when it came to ghosts. That's why Jazz had decided to take a different tact searching for her missing brother, one that seemed to be working out well for her so far, if she did say so herself- and Jazz _did_ say so. Her first clandestine trip to the Ghost Zone two years ago had been disorienting and full of surprises with sheer terror sprinkled in at moments, but Jazz felt it had been ultimately worth it, her decided course of action of trying to _actually talk_ to ghosts in the search for her wayward sibling making her a good friend if nothing else.

The spectral teen rocker emerged from under the bed and waved a hand at Jazz dismissively, laying her ever-present guitar down on Jazz's bed. "Eh, I could always use my powers and hypnotize them if it came down to that." At the glare she got from Jazz, Ember rolled her eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was more than a little put-upon. "Hey, I _already_ promised you I wouldn't- not on you or your folks, at least, remember?" She shrugged and sat down on the bed next to her ghostly guitar. "Sounds like they've finally got a good lead on that other ghost, huh? I just wish I'd seen more that night and stayed on his tail better. I _still_ say that ghost's energy was really weird, but I can't quite put my finger on why." Ember frowned before she shrugged. "Could've been because he was carrying Danny at the time, but who knows?"

Jazz closed her eyes and nodded. Despite their...rather tense and almost fatal initial meeting and both of them having had to overcome a _lot_ of suspicion towards each other, Ember had proven over the past two years to be a good friend as well as an invaluable ally in the hunt that Jazz was secretly conducting for Danny. The other teen (well... _was_ she a teen? Who knew how old Ember _really_ was?) had actually been an eyewitness of sorts to Danny's kidnapping, seeing the black and white-haired ghost- _the_ ghost- materialize into the Ghost Zone through a portal that night while carefully cradling Danny in his arms before taking off for a portal out back out of the Ghost Zone that Ember hadn't been able to follow him through before it quickly closed. A human in the Ghost Zone, especially an infant, had been odd enough to catch Ember's attention and had piqued her curiosity enough to try and follow the two, and part of Jazz really wished that Ember had been able to follow the other specter out of the other side of the portal. "Any new leads or anything on your end? Haven't found much, but I'm looking into likely spots for any Ghost Zone portals to be in the area."

"Nah, just Box messing with people down at the warehouse and docks like usual." Ember snickered at the thought of the workers finding their packed cargo suddenly moving on its own and ringing declarations of 'I AM THE BOX GHOST!' from the various boxes causing mass panic and confusion. She then quirked a brow as she remembered something Box had told her. "Although he _did_ see something interesting there last week, come to think of it. I don't remember if I told you about it yet or not."

"Oh?" Jazz finished her last algebra question and packed her completed homework away, swiveling to face her friend. "Maybe something related to that ghost?"

Ember shrugged. "Not sure actually, but he _did_ see a truck leave from the warehouse with a whole bunch of big equipment like, _right_ in the middle of the night. That's not usual human business hours." She then leaned forward and emphasized her next words. "He saw the stuff before it was tarped up, and it included a big, round, thick hunk of metal with electronics all over it and all kinds of other smaller electronics. I'm not saying it's a setup for a Ghost Portal, but it _sure_ sounds like it could _possibly_ be one, doesn't it? As soon as he described it to me, it sounded like parts for one just like the one your folks have in the basement." The specter pointed her finger downward with a quirked eyebrow.

Jazz nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing while Ember related the Box Ghost's story. "That _could_ maybe be a setup for one, yeah, though I'd have to see it myself to be sure. I don't suppose he, uh, happened to follow that truck and see where it went to after it left the warehouse?"

Ember made a face and played a bit with her hair before replying. "Nah. It didn't have much in the way of containers, so it didn't hold much interest for him. Sorry, he's kinda got a one track mind as you know. But I'll keep an eye and ear out in the Ghost Zone to see if anyone sees or hears about any new portals in the near future. A new one opening up is pretty rare, so word about a new portal travels fast around the Zone."

"And I'll see if I see anything on this side." Jazz sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "That _is_ really weird, though. Who else but Mom and Dad could possibly want to build or even _know_ about a Ghost Portal in the first place, if that really _was_ the materials for one?"

The other girl nodded in agreement. "Exactly. That's why I thought I should tell you about it. Some ghosts are cool with humans, but most definitely aren't, and I wouldn't want to be an unprepared human that opened a portal to the Ghost Zone." Ember then smirked at Jazz and snickered. "You know, like you did. Bumrushing in completely unprepared and all."

Jazz let out a huff of annoyment, but there was a smile on her face and her tone was light as she retorted. "Hey, I had the Fenton Thermos at least. I was only _mostly_ unprepared, thank you very much."

Ember visibly shivered. "Ugh, don't remind me. That week I spent in that thing after you finally got the drop on me _sucked_." Ember shook her head and picked up her guitar and began tuning it, the two friends settling into a companionable silence occasionally broken by the gentle strums and twangs of Ember's guitar and the scratching of Jazz's pen on paper as she wrote notes down.

 _You're out there_ somewhere _, Danny. I just_ know _it._ Jazz's face was a mask of determination as she began to lose herself in the books and maps. _I'm just not exactly sure if that 'somewhere' is somewhere on Earth,_ or _somewhere in the Ghost Zone. Or if you're even still alive,_ though she immediately shook her head hard at that last thought, as if trying to rattle it clear out of her mind with the action. No, her brother was alive. He _had_ to be. And Jazz _would_ find him.


	3. The All-Nighter

Jazz tossed and turned in her sleep several hours after Ember had snuck back out, shut eyes wincing as she let out a low groan. The nightmare had come back again, just like it always did at least one night a month. Her _knowing_ that it was nothing but a nightmare at this point did nothing to lessen its impact, however, despite having the nightmare for as long as she could remember. In fact, Jazz was almost certain at this point that it _wasn't_ a nightmare, but some primeval part of her memory dredging up and replaying a scene that had been burned into her mind even at such a young age. The waking Jazz Fenton tried her best to pick the images apart, to analyze it for information and try to grasp why it replayed constantly for her, but the sleeping Jazz Fenton felt terrified and defenseless and only wanted to escape it.

In the nightmare she was a small child again, a three year old slowly wandering down the hall towards her baby brother's bedroom after having been awakened- by what Jazz didn't remember and the nightmare ( _memory?_ ) provided no detail. The hallway was dimly lit, only the small nightlight from the open hall bathroom offering any kind of illumination. Right after she passed the bathroom, _he_ emerged from Danny's room floating in midair, her infant brother carefully cradled in his arms. _The_ ghost, as her family now referred to him. Jazz completely froze up at the sight of the terrifying specter holding her brother before the phantom offered her a grin after turning his blood red, pupil-less gaze towards her, the menacing smile showcasing two large fangs. He then carefully shuffled Danny so that he was holding him in one arm before slowly raising his pointer finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Jazz immediately screamed as loudly as her small lungs would allow, her parent's worried-sounding voices coming from their bedroom down the hallway before they quickly sprinted towards where they'd heard Jazz scream and were greeted with the sight of a menacing ghost with Danny in his arms.

While she remained petrified in terror, both of her parents charged towards the ghost holding her brother only to be suddenly met with a wall of glowing green energy blocking the way to the ghost and Danny further down the corridor. Both Maddie and Jack desperately pounded on the barrier and threw themselves against it repeatedly, trying to get through any way they could as they were wholly unprepared for the encounter. The specter loosed a loud, terrifying laugh before more energy opened up into a circle behind him. He then disappeared into the newly opened portal while still holding Danny, the circle snapping closed almost immediately after and vanishing. Her parents fell to the floor after the barrier they'd been working to get through suddenly disappeared as well.

Jazz was always jolted awake from the nightmare after Maddie loosed her first anguished scream of Danny's name.

* * *

She sat up in her bed and shivered for a moment, hugging her arms around her knees while knowing that more sleep wouldn't be coming that night. Jazz sighed as she glanced over at her clock and realized it was two in the morning. _So much for being rested for the math test next week if this keeps up,_ she thought with a grimace even though she was grateful that it was currently early Saturday. _Ugh..._ Sometimes, especially on the months where the nightmare plagued her during the school week multiple times and robbed her of far too many hours of sleep, Jazz felt like the only thing keeping her grades up was her sheer stubbornness and absolute refusal to accept anything below a B+. She stretched a bit and hopped out of bed, deciding to go downstairs and quietly make a lukewarm cup of instant coffee so she didn't disturb her parents. _May as well take advantage of it and sneak down into the basement and check out some more information on the Ghost Zone while I'm at it._ Even with Ember having given Jazz a lot of insider information and Jazz's fairly frequent forays into the Ghost Zone behind her parents' backs, she always found there was more to learn.

She settled in at the kitchen table with her cup of coffee, the ritual of making the beverage and greeting the early morning almost as comforting to her as the drink itself, before a flash of headlights caught her attention from the living room window. Deciding to investigate further, Jazz wandered into the living room with coffee still in hand and noticed something that seemed very strange and out of the ordinary: a pair of very large, tarp-laden convoy trucks rumbling down their residential road before turning right, in the direction that only led to more houses or the woods. _What the heck? I know sometimes big trucks shortcut down our street to take Old Lake out to the woods, but at two in the morning and on a weekend to boot? Those definitely didn't_ look _like ordinary construction trucks either._ From what she'd been able to catch under the streetlight at the end of their block, the trucks were pitch black and completely devoid of any logos, and she knew most of the companies liked to used their trucks as another form of advertising since they frequently sat at their sites. After mulling the strange happening over in her head for a few moments, Jazz found herself intrigued enough to finish her coffee, head upstairs back into her bedroom and change into a pair of old jeans and T-shirt before finding her beat up sneakers that she usually reserved for yard work.

An hour later Jazz found herself deep in the woods surrounding Amity Park, her only companions her cell phone and high-powered flashlight that she'd borrowed from the lab before striking out into the early morning. She'd managed to pick up the tracks where the trucks were turning off the main road and after what she guessed was about two miles of walking, she found herself deep in the woods on the edges of a construction site, and a very new one judging by the scent of damp earth and the vanilla-like smell of recently cut timber still hanging cloyingly in the early morning air. They seemed to have cleared out a large area in a perfect circle before calling things off for the night, the black machines carefully concealed amongst the trees ringing the site. _OK, so it looks like they're clearing out a big circle...and this is_ way _too far from the main roads to be for any kind of business construction, or even a house unless someone is the biggest hermit ever. There's_ also _the fact that they're clearly trying to keep this whole thing under the radar, so what the heck's going on out here?_

She'd noticed after carefully, stealthily picking her way around the edges of the ring that there were none of the usual bright 'New Homes Coming Soon!' banners or anything of that sort you'd usually see, though she _did_ spy what was likely a trailer that served as a base of operations for the construction situated on the far right of the new circle. _I should definitely come back here with Ember soon and see what she can find out...I bet that trailer over there has all kinds of information in it and it's probably locked, but certainly wouldn't be for her._ Deciding that she didn't want to risk hanging around the site any longer in case there were guards that showed up, she started heading out back through the woods the way that she'd come, following the tracks before she noticed a small fire burning in the distance on the other side of the lake. _Hey, it looks like there's campers out there! Maybe they've seen something..._ Jazz wanted to hike out there and ask, but she realized it would take at least an hour on foot to go around to the other side of the lake _and_ she also didn't want to startle someone at such an early hour. Plus, she had no idea if she'd be safe approaching whoever it was. _Hopefully they'll still be there tomorrow..._ As she headed back towards her home and made sure to avoid the roads in case any more of those strange trucks decided to put in an appearance, she made up her mind to see who was camping out after she got back home and finally got some much needed sleep.

* * *

"Yo! Sam!" Tucker quickly prodded at his friend's sleeping bag across the tent with a stick after coming in from tending the fire. "Almost three-thirty! That was the last time you spotted Ol' Spooky right? It's _also_ almost time for my nap after we try and spy on him, incidentally."

"Yeah, this is the time," groaned Sam in reply before she rolled over. " _Ugh_." She got up slowly and stretched, still in the clothing that she'd worn to make the hour hike out to the spot Danny had led them to. The other boy hadn't steered them wrong though- the spot _was_ definitely very remote so they were unlikely to be pestered _and_ also offered a stunning view of almost the entirety of the lake, which would hopefully make it easy to spot any strange activity. It had also looked used, Sam and Tucker guessing that Danny knew the spot because he probably used it now and again for some rare privacy. They'd chatted as Danny had led them to the spot and they quickly found out why the world didn't know that Vlad Masters had a son- Vlad had apparently always taken steps to keep it that way for as long as Danny could recall, likely deeply fearful that whatever fate had befallen Danny's mother would happen to him as well.

 _I mean I get where Vlad's coming from, especially losing his wife as part of things, but_ sheesh. _I can't imagine growing up like Danny has...no friends, heck, hardly even any interaction with the outside world_ at all _beyond his tutors and the trips that his dad lets him take now and again._ Danny had seemed to soak up the interaction with Sam and Tucker like a sponge, very happy to have new people in his life and especially ones so close to his age. Sam had honestly been expecting a snobby type after learning who Danny was, especially after finding out how he'd been brought up, but he'd wound up being very down to earth and she was quite impressed with that- _and_ , Sam had to mentally add on with a slight grin dancing at the edges of her lips for just a moment as she settled in a camping chair in front of the fire, there was no denying that he was pretty easy on her eyes. For now, though, she was wholly content with just getting to know Danny better and being a friend to someone that seemed to very desperately need one.

"Man, Danny wasn't lying. This is a _great_ spot," commented Tucker after he yawned and poured himself some more coffee from the large Thermos of it that they'd brought, adding cream and sugar from packets that they'd also decided to bring. "Looks like about the only place we can't see from here is the old burned out warehouse on the far east side. Got lucky with the weather tonight, too." He offered a glance skyward to the clear, starry sky with a fat moon hanging lazily in the middle of it. It was at the exact moment that Sam also looked skyward that they noticed three strange, green silhouettes outlined against the moon, making a beeline for deep into the woods. "Whoa...what the heck were _THOSE_?!" Tucker finally managed to get out after a moment or two of stunned silence from them both.

Sam blinked and frowned, getting up out of her seat and scanning the horizon as the three figures zipped off into the night at a strangely rapid speed. "Those...looked like vultures. Three vultures." She then grinned broadly, eyes taking on a gleam. "Three _ghost_ vultures, if I'm not mistaken. Let's try and figure out where they're headed!"

Tucker shook his head. "No way we'll be able to catch them with how fast they were, but it looked like they were headed southeast. Maybe we can poke around the woods there some when it's not so dark out?"

"It looked like they were headed right for the Black Bear, actually. That's pretty odd." Sam frowned and studied the area where she'd seen the three forms vanish into the tall trees. "Well, back to our vigil for Ol' Spooky." She settled back into the chair and used the binoculars she'd brought to scan the lake before something on the other side of the lake caught her eye. "Hey...I see headlights out on the other side of the lake. Wow, that actually looks like a whole caravan of trucks...at _this_ time of night?" Her puzzlement was evident in her tone as she handed the binoculars to Tucker. "Check it out."

"Wow, that _is_ weird. It looks like they're all turning off the road and vanishing now- I'm guessing they must be headed into the woods over there somewhere." Tucker quirked a brow. "Maybe that's another thing to check out later, huh? That'd be right on our way back home after we head south from the Black Bear. Two birds, or three birds in this case, with one stone and all that?"

Sam smiled at her friend and nodded. "I like the way you think." She then got startled as Tucker jumped out of his chair again and stared out at the lake. "Whoa, what's up?"

" _Ol' Spooky_!" Tucker half-hissed. " _Look_!" He pointed out at the middle of the lake with the hand that wasn't currently holding the binoculars, where there was now a glowing figure hovering almost exactly in the middle of it. " _And_ the vultures too!" Sam watched as the three vultures they'd seen earlier materialized in front of the hovering larger ghost.

"Holy cow! I wish we were closer to get some good pictures or video." Sam peered out at the specters intently. "It almost seems like they're talking or something out there."

Tucker studied the quartet through the binoculars. "I think they are, actually. The vultures are all turned away from me, but I made out the word 'soon' or somethin' close to that from Ol' Spooky. Not an expert lipreader though." Suddenly as soon as the ghosts had appeared they disapparated into the night, the glow in the middle of the lake vanishing. " _Well_ I don't know about you, but I sure don't think _I_ need any more coffee now. Do we stay up and see if he comes back?"

"Absolutely," replied Sam with a firm nod of her head.

Unfortunately, several hours later passed without any further odd incidents, and so the pair reluctantly started to break camp when they heard an unfamiliar, feminine voice call to them from down the narrow pathway Danny had led them up before a girl slightly older than themselves appeared on the edge of the camp. "Hey there! Sorry for barging in like this. I was hoping to catch whoever was camping out here before they left." In truth, Jazz had actually scouted out the pair of campers for a bit and decided that they wouldn't pose any danger to her before risking the approach. "I saw the campfire burning out here last night and was wondering if either of you saw anything unusual. Oh, I'm Jazz by the way- Jazz Fenton, I live in town."

Tucker and Sam gave each other Do we talk to her? glances. They'd both agreed to be sworn to secrecy about Danny for the time being at Danny's own request to try and avoid any future issues with his father, and they were both fearful that the conversation may eventually lead to who had led them to the remote spot that was fairly off the beaten path. They also certainly weren't going to discuss that their camping had actually been a stakeout for ghosts- and one that had had some results at that. "Er, yeah, we were out here. What kind of weird stuff are you talking, exactly?" Tucker took the lead.

"Mostly trucks moving stuff in the middle of the night, but anything else would be helpful." The older teen let out a loud yawn after covering her mouth. "I saw a bunch of unmarked trucks roll by my house last night and decided to check them out. They wound up really deep in the woods, and I spotted your fire burning on the way back home."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah we did notice the headlights as we were watching the lake."

Jazz blinked and quirked a brow. "Watching the lake? In the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, keepin' an eye out for Ol' Spooky." Tucker groaned as soon as he let it slip due to his current tiredness.

Sam laughed and quickly tried to cover up Tucker's faux pas. "Biggest bass in the lake, you know."

The response was Jazz narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "And for some reason you're trying to catch a fish from all the way up on this cliff, huh?" She shook her head and laughed softly. "Nah, I don't think so. What is this 'Ol' Spooky' though? I'm intrigued."

"Eh, you probably wouldn't believe us if we _did_ tell you."

Jazz laughed at Tucker's reply. "Try me. I think you'd be surprised."

Sam and Tucker exchanged once final glance between each other before deciding to tell her. Hey, it wouldn't involve Danny at all right? And maybe she'd just think they were crazy and leave them alone. "He's a ghost that haunts this lake sometimes, actually. Bright red eyes, fangs, white cape, black hair with a grey stripe in the center."

The response to Ol' Spooky's being a ghost and description wasn't anything close to what either Tucker or Sam had expected. Jazz stiffened the instant Tucker had finished describing the ghost, eyes a million miles away for a few seconds before she snapped back to reality, her eyes filling with hope and anger somehow at once. "I need you both to come with me back to my house. _Please_." Her tone was quiet, pleading and full of desperation.


	4. Ol' Spooky

Something had happened while his... _adopted_ son had visited Amity Park over the long weekend. Vlad was almost certain of it, and it was time to get to the bottom of it. There was no question that Daniel had seemed strangely happy when they'd had their usual breakfast together earlier in the morning, the boy much more animated and excited than Vlad was used to seeing. Either Daniel _had_ really needed the getaway more than Vlad had even realized- _did_ he perhaps need to finally loosen the reins a bit so Daniel didn't feel so controlled? His son _was_ fully a teenager now, after all, and definitely getting old enough to start wanting to do more and more on his own- something that Vlad knew would have to be actively addressed verysoon. Or, Vlad thought with an internal frown, the second option at the forefront of his mind was true: something had happened during the stay at the cabin to _make_ Daniel that happy. Vlad now very much regretted not taking advantage of the little side trip he'd taken out to Lake Eerie last night to spy a bit, though he tried to avoid being in his ghost form as much as possible around the town where he'd... _taken young Daniel into the family_ , yes, that was a good way to phrase it.

As soon as he and Daniel exchanged their usual post-breakfast hug and goodbye and the limo delivering Daniel to his private tutor exited the massive, round front driveway, Vlad headed to his private office and dialed a cellphone number that he had long ago memorized after shutting the door. "Stella. I've a question or two." Vlad's tone was flat as he looked out through his massive window into the acres of the Wisconsin countryside that surrounded his palatial castle home. "I noticed that my son seemed... _unusually_ happy when he arrived back from the cabin this morning. Were there any strange incidents reported while Daniel was at the cabin?"

"No, sir, aside from the pair of kids throwing a few rocks over the gate that I mentioned to you. They didn't come back after we pursued for a few blocks to scare them off." As usual, Stella Watson was to the point and polite, both qualities Vlad greatly admired and had played no small part in his decision to hire her as his head of security. What she and the others didn't know was that they weren't protecting Daniel from the world, it was much more to try and prevent the world from finding out about Daniel, but _that_ was a niggling little detail Vlad felt no need to impart to the team.

Vlad narrowed his eyes and got up out of his plush office chair, slowly pacing in front of the window. "And there was _nothing else at all_ that happened outside of that?"

Keyboard tapping came through the phone for a few moments, Stella looking up the reports. "Not that was reported, sir, but we _did_ keep things fairly relaxed outside of the cabin per your direct orders so we didn't tail him while he snuck out for his walks this time and just kept an eye on his shoe tracker instead. The only slightly odd activity I can find is that he did hike later in the evening up to that spot on the cliff that he likes to use to camp sometimes the last night he stayed, but he turned around and came back after about an hour so we wound up not dispatching anyone out there- we figured he'd hiked up there but then decided against setting up the tent and spending the night."

Vlad sat back down at his desk and turned on his computer. "Right, right, I know you were following my directives and it's appreciated. Here's what I need. Please pull _all_ of his cellphone activity for the duration of his stay there and Email it to me as soon as we're off the phone. I'll be waiting in front of my computer for it, so chop-chop."

"Yes, sir. Expect that within the next five minutes." Stella crisply ended the call and Vlad impatiently tapped his fingers on his desk, practically pouncing on his keyboard and mouse when the Email arrived. As soon as he opened the activity logs and began his perusal, his worst fears were confirmed within the first few lines of texts. _Something_ had definitely happened during his son's stay at the cabin, all right.

Daniel had _made friends_.

One friend would have been bad enough, but no, he'd had to make friend _s_ , plural. This, Vlad knew, was a capital-P _Problem,_ particularly as these new friends very likely resided in Amity Park or somewhere close to it if he'd managed to contact them without the security team knowing. The only time that Daniel had actually had to himself were his hikes around the cabin, after all, and Vlad had carefully ensured, as always, that all of the other cabins were vacant so it was very doubtful that they were visitors from out of town. Vlad was absolutely stewing, though he _was_ at least somewhat mollified by the fact that Daniel continually emphasized secrecy and that neither this 'Sam' nor 'Tuck' could ever tell anyone about him. Vlad scanned the text exchanges rapidly, about ready to call Daniel back from the tutor he was currently at to confront him when he glanced through the last few texts before his son had left for the quick flight back home.

 **Just please remember, guys, no one can know about me AT ALL. I want to be your friend, but treat me like I don't exist outside of your phones except when I can come visit. A ghost friend, OK?**

Vlad read the final sentence of the text three times over before he suddenly found himself bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, his anger entirely forgotten and Vlad _very_ glad that his son was currently away with one of his tutors so that he hadn't heard that almost maniacal laugh. He grinned menacingly, giving the entire message a final read before placing another phone call. "Oh my _dear_ Little Badger, if only you knew how _prophetic_ that will become," Vlad murmured to himself with a great deal of satisfaction, that grin still on his face as the other end answered the line. "We're moving up the timetable," he began without preamble, Vlad's face and tone snapping back to normality. "I now need it finished within the week. Money is _absolutely_ no object, run the crews around the clock if you have to and pay whatever they want for it. But _I want it done_ and ready to go by Saturday morning. No excuses, no extensions." He then hung up the phone and called Stella back.

"Stella, if you please, I need you to get me anything and everything you can on the owners of the following two cellphone numbers. They're input into Daniel's phone as 'Tuck' and 'Sam' respectively." Vlad rattled off both numbers. "No rush, I want a complete check and let's keep it under the radar, please. It seems Daniel has decided to make himself some friends, and I very much want to know who my boy is deciding to spend his time with. You _do_ know how I worry."

* * *

"Mom, Dad, there's actually a reason I wanted you to meet Sam and Tucker." Jazz gestured to the pair of younger teens that she'd begged to follow her back from Lake Eerie, the pair's camping equipment currently bundled up in the Fenton family's living room and the five people in the room spread out across a sofa and love seat. Sam and Tucker had decided to follow Jazz back to her home, her pleading tone enough to convince them both. They'd then met Jazz's parents and were in the middle of a lively conversation about some local goings-on when Jazz had turned serious, her head drooping a bit as she started speaking before she looked both Maddy and Jack in the eye in turn as she finished, her confidence seeming to return. "I think they've spotted _the_ ghost."

"Uh, we've seen a few ghosts now actually, but I'm guessing you're referring to Ol' Spooky?" Tucker raised an eyebrow and finally broke the silence after a few moments, noticing how the atmosphere in the room had gone from warm, cozy and inviting to something suffocating, almost sad and chilly the instant Jazz had uttered the sentence. He flicked Sam a nervous glance, wondering if she'd picked up on the sudden change, and could tell that she most definitely had.

Sam offered a nod, the unexpected heaviness in the room almost sitting on her shoulders. "At least that's what Tuck and I call him- he doesn't really seem to have an official name or nickname that we can find. Last night was the first time we've ever laid eyes on him, but we've been researching him and chasing rumors and supposed sightings for a long time." _Jeez, you could cut the tension in here now with a knife..._

Maddie slowly exhaled, feeling her hands shake slightly as she held her coffee mug, hoping against hope. Eventually, she decided to go with the most obvious question first, breaking another lengthy silence. There would be no point in hoping further if a few things couldn't be established about this ghost, after all, so Maddie decided to get those questions out of the way early. If she _had_ to rip the band-aid off again, the shorter a time the festering wound that was Danny's kidnapping was exposed and raw and aching the better. "This ghost you call Ol' Spooky...how long do they say he's been around for? How far back do the sightings go, I guess is what I should ask?"

Tucker mulled the question over, looking up to the ceiling, his eyes flicking to the left with attempted recall. "Oh, man, like _at least_ fifteen or so years I think, maybe even a bit longer but older stuff's harder to find in general. The library gets pretty scattered the further back you go." He noticed that Jack almost dropped his own cup of coffee at the answer, Jack and Maddie staring at each other with wide eyes. "Granted he's pretty rarely spotted. There's only been a handful of sightings."

"That sounds about right," added Sam with a nod. "I take it you guys are after information on Ol' Spooky specifically, which Tuck and I are more than happy to help with." She offered a smile. "It's kinda cool that we've found more people that are into ghosts, actually, so whatever you want to know we'll try and help with."

Jack got a very serious, almost frightening look on his face. When he spoke, there was barely controlled fury smoldering behind the words. "Oh _believe_ me, we want to know _everything_ about this ghost. Sightings, rumors, you name it, we'd like to know all you've got. We've been trying to track him down, or at least a ghost that looks almost exactly like him, for a _very_ long time." Venom dripped from every word, both Tucker and Sam surprised that this was the same Jack Fenton that had warmly welcomed them and joked around with them a bit less than an hour ago.

"I suppose I should probably explain," began Jazz, deciding to intercede before her father's ire potentially scared Sam and Tucker off. "You see, I'm pretty sure that this 'Ol' Spooky' is the same ghost that kidnapped my baby brother when he was six months old almost fourteen years ago. It's why I wanted you to come here." She let out a shaky breath before continuing. "The description you gave matched almost exactly, and now it sounds like he's been around long enough to have done it too."

" _Whoa_." Tucker's eyes widened before he nodded firmly, eyes determined. "Well in that case we can sure try and help you!" Now that the sudden, suppressive heaviness of the atmosphere had been explained he and Sam gave each other firm nods, deciding without need of words to assist. Who would refuse to help a family possibly locate a missing child, after all, even a child that would be a teen at this point? "Uh like Sam said, we call him Ol' Spooky, we haven't really found any official nickname, probably because he's so rarely spotted. He tends to be seen the most around Lake Eerie, though he's also been spotted at the old burned out Black Bear a couple of times too."

Sam nodded, continuing after Tucker glanced over to her. "Supposedly he's the spirit haunting the old warehouse at the east end of the lake. I'm not sure about that, though, because he's sure dressed a lot fancier than you'd think a dockworker would be. Plus you'd think he'd be sighted a lot more frequently if that was the case. There's also whispers that he's who caused the Black Bear to burn down and become abandoned in the first place."

Jazz tapped her chin in thought. "I seem to be noticing a common thread- the Black Bear. Maybe we should go check it out while it's light out?" She then looked down at her cellphone, eyes widening slightly. "I'll, uh, be right back." Jazz headed downstairs suddenly, heading for the lab and the Ghost Portal. After she'd been down there for a few minutes, Maddie got up and called down the stairs.

"Jazz honey? Is everything alright?"

"Um, yeah, it's fine! I'm fine! Never better!" Jazz's running gait up the stairs could be heard, followed by her closing the door behind her with a wide, nervous smile. This was followed by a feeble laugh, Jazz still blocking the door with her body. "Anyway, we were going to go check out the Black Bear then go out for breakfast, right? Let's go!" She half-shoved the rest of the group out of the house. "We'll be gone for a while I REALLY HOPE THAT THINGS ARE OK WHEN WE GET BACK," she called out rather loudly behind her as she shut the door after letting the rest of the group get some distance. After the house was locked, the door to the lab burst open, shining green energy emitting for a moment before the smell of smoke filled the Fenton residence.

Shortly after that Ember wandered upstairs with the Box Ghost, both frantically trying to find any electronics they could. "Good freakin' goin' Box, _you broke it_!"


	5. Machinations

SO I'm pretty thoroughly annoyed that strikethrough doesn't work here. It makes me literally unable to write out a major headcanon'd character quirk for Ghostwriter...

* * *

Ghostwriter sighed as he churned out yet another piece of powerless writing and tossed it onto the pile on his right, which now stretched in a haphazard heap from the floor halfway to the ceiling, mounds of half-finished writings of all types and lengths sitting defunct lifelessly around the floor, desk and magical keyboard that gave Ghostwriter his powers. __Another dud. Naturally, because why wouldn't it be lately?__ He frowned, lime green eyes narrowing in thought behind his glasses as Ghostwriter stroked his goatee while studying his keyboard intently. __Something__ was definitely wrong with it these days, ever since Desiree had borrowed, no cajoled, no _filched_ the magical device a few weeks ago behind his back when he was busy with dusting and suddenly returned it with a nervous laugh four days later.

Ghostwriter __also__ found it rather telling that since the genie-ghost had returned it, she hadn't dropped by to badger, hassle or pester him for help bending reality with his written words, as she usually did when trying to acquire power through twisting human's wishes. The ability to _quite literally_ write certain things into reality, within limits, was very handy when granting selfsame gnarled desires, after all. No, his beautiful machine was __definitely__ faulty or broken in some manner now that he couldn't quite discern, and Desiree had most assuredly had something to do with it. Heaving a mighty, thoroughly put-upon sigh as he got up from his writing desk, Ghostwriter supposed it was time to leave the safety and comfort of his large library-slash-residence to attempt to track the other ghost down and find out where she'd taken his keyboard and what exactly had happened to it while in her __very much__ unauthorized possession.

At least, that __had__ been his plan when he'd initially gotten up, along with maybe seeing if Technus could come over and take a look at his cherished keyboard, though Ghostwriter was debating on whether or not he wanted to owe the technology-obsessed ghost a favor in return if Nicolai _did_ consent to look at it. He also knew that Desiree was likely in the human world trying to further her influence through her usual tactic of overhearing wishes, as she generally always was, and Ghostwriter wasn't sure that he wanted to deal with the human world and all its inherent risks either. In particular, he was wanting to avoid the pair of risks named Maddie and Jack Fenton, twin scourges of their sector of Ghost Zone. Just the thought of a chance encounter with one, or worse both, of the Fentons caused Ghostwriter to break out into a cold sweat, shaking his head as if trying to jolt the thought loose from his mind with the motion.

Most every ghost in their quadrant knew the Fentons at least by name and reputation if not by sight, a spotting of their large, very well-equipped combat vehicle floating through the byways of the Ghost Zone always causing an alarm to be raised among all of the ghosts in the vicinity so they could all vanish into other, distant parts of the Ghost Zone for a while, far from the Fenton's brutal crusade. There were a few whispers here and there that Jack could actually be reasoned with, especially if he was out of Maddie's sight and hearing when it was attempted, but Ghostwriter wasn't sure that he believed it and never wanted to be in a position to find out firsthand. __What to do, what to do...__ Suddenly, Ghostwriter's mind was made up for him as his world exploded into a cartwheel of grey, blue and pain, the spectral writer slammed into his vaulted ceiling before a voice assaulted his eardrums, his glasses falling to the floor from the impact as he tried to recover his bearings from... _ _whatever__ had just happened. A panicked voice boomed into Ghostwriter's ears as he tried to reorient himself:

"THE BOX GHOST NEEDS HELP FROM THE MAGICAL TYPEY MAN!"

Recovering from the assault and standing upright, Ghostwriter narrowed his eyes at the blue, blurry figure before he flew down to look for his glasses, hands splaying as he carefully felt through the mounds of paper and books for his glasses. He might not have been able to see very well at the moment, but he'd know that name and voice anywhere. " _ _How__ many times at this point have I told you my name, Box? It's Ghostwriter, or Writer." His right hand finally hitting paydirt and feeling the familiar shape of his glasses' frames, Ghostwriter stood up and cleaned the lenses out of long habit before placing them back on his face, Box Ghost snapping clearly into being from a blur as he put them on. "Now what precisely do you need? Not that your entrance has _exactly_ put me into much of a charitable mood, if I'm frank about it."

Box looked abashed before he started a panicked circling, arms and legs gesticulating wildly. "Uh, sorry! But I may have accidentally kindasorta broken a Ghost Portal and Ember says we need your help to fix it with your keyboard. I had to fly for a long time to find another portal to get back here to find you."

Ghostwriter's eyes widened, disbelief filling his tone as he replied to the news. "You... _ _broke__ a Ghost Portal? How in the Ghost Zone did you manage __that__?" __Somehow, only Box could manage that one,__ the writer thought wryly. Well, only Box or the walking calamity known as Johnny and his shadow.

"I uh went to go visit Ember's friend with Ember. Ember's friend has a portal and I kinda hit a button on it on accident after we used it and then it kinda exploded after," replied Box with a sigh, staring down at the floor and tapping his index fingers together in front of him before looking up at Ghostwriter. "Ember wanted to let her friend know something I saw last night so she asked me to come with her."

Ghostwriter's brow quirked upwards. "Ah. Well, I'm afraid to inform you that even if I __did__ decide to assist, my keyboard has been acting up lately so I can't assist you with those particular powers, at least until I figure out what Desiree did to it and get it fixed."

"Well maybe we can help Ember figure it out! Now let's go!" Box reached out and grabbed the other ghost's jacket sleeve, phasing them through the ceiling and taking off for the portal he'd come in from with Ghostwriter in reluctant, protesting tow.

"I DIDN'T EVEN SAY I'D HELP TO START WITH! I ALSO DON'T HAVE MY KEYBOARD WITH ME EVEN IF IT ****DID**** WORK!" Ghostwriter just sighed after ineffectually trying to be heard over the snarling, howling wind wrapping around them and settled in for the ride with an annoyed expression as he put his glasses into his pocket for the trip, realizing he was being dragged into this whether he wanted to be or not.

* * *

 ** **OK, Emb. How bad are things with the portal, since I had to leave with Mom and Dad?**** Jazz took the opportunity that a lull in conversation in the car presented and pulled out her phone, quickly texting to check in back at the house.

 ** **Yeah, sorry J, I think it's super busted now that I'm looking it over. I made Box go get someone that can help out, though, I hope.****

Jazz winced as she read Ember's quick response in the back of the car as they drove towards the old, burned out Black Bear General Store, hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as Ember was making it out to be. She'd gotten the spectral rocker a phone a while ago, secretly paying for it out of her allowance, and not only was it nice to be able to communicate with her best friend more regularly, but it also came in quite handy when Ember was trying to help her chase down leads about her brother. The only downside was that cell towers appeared to be sort of wonky on the Ghost Zone side of things, Ember having only found one or two locations that she could reliably get a strong enough signal to actually call in the strange, unearthly realm, though texting seemed to work fine most everywhere. Jazz frowned, worried as she typed her reply. ****How broken, exactly, are we talking? Like, a little bit of smoke coming out of it broken, or there's now a smoldering crater in what's left of my parent's basement kind of broken?****

 ** **Uh, does this answer the question?**** This was accompanied by a somewhat blurry snapshot of the Fenton Works Ghost Zone portal spewing black smoke from its edges with a panicked Box Ghost flailing and running to the right through the middle of the frame, and then a clearer picture of a lifeless, deactivated portal with the Box Ghost still flailing and running to the left this time. ****Box hit some button as he came out, I think the off/on switch because it's the only button I can think of in the inside of it, then it started smoking really bad and deactivated? I know you and your folks don't usually turn it off too often because of the button being on the inside.****

 ** **Yep, exactly right.**** In their haste to construct a portal to begin the search for their kidnapped son as soon as possible, the Fentons had inadvertently wound up putting the 'On' and 'Off' button of their artificial Ghost Portal on the inside of the portal instead of the outside, not catching the error in the blueprint until they'd finished construction and gone to turn it on. Not wanting to run the risk of anyone actually being inside the portal when it was turned on, they'd rigged up a ladder, some wiring and a broom into what Jack had nicknamed 'The Fenton Ghost Portal Buttonator 9000' for the few times that they needed to turn it back off and on again. Aside from a bit of occasional downtime for servicing and maintenance, the portal was always activated, standing open with several traps and layers of security in place. Jazz had long suspected that her parents were hoping Danny would wander back home through the portal some day, which was why they left it open constantly in addition to it being a pain to turn off and on. __Well, either him or Ol' Spooky, who could then lead us to wherever he's taken Danny to.__ ****You mentioned a friend a bit ago? You're absolutely sure we can trust them?****

 ** **Yup.**** This was quickly followed by ****Don't worry, J, it's not Desiree. I don't really trust her either, even though she HAS helped us some.**** Jazz felt a wave of relief wash over her at Ember's words. Desiree __had__ sent some tips and information their way and even provided some direct assistance to them here and there, but Jazz had always gotten the feeling that the genie-like apparition was constantly weighing and balancing what was in it for herself as well in every one of their interactions to date, so Jazz didn't yet fully place her confidence in Desiree and Jazz was glad to see that her best friend was feeling similarly. ****His name is Ghostwriter, though he's also OK with Writer. In fact, I might introduce you to him when you get back here, IF we can kinda sorta totally avoid the subject of you being a Fenton that is. He'll FREAK.****

 ** **OK. Well if you trust him enough to ask him to help, then so will I.**** Jazz sighed softly at the reminder of the reputation that her family name carried among the Ghost Zone. She remembered her first few sorties into the Ghost Zone and how despite spending hours some nights looking for any signs of life anywhere, she'd never found any. Ember had finally worked up the courage and confronted her after almost a week to drive her off, believing Jazz in Maddy's borrowed suit to be Maddy. Over time Jazz had both figured out and had explained to her by Ember that, yeah, __no duh__ there were no ghosts around, because she looked almost __exactly__ like Maddy Fenton in that suit and she was driving the __Specter Speeder__ around, so __of course__ the ghosts were avoiding her like a particularly virulent plague. ****Mom, Dad and my new friends Tucker and Sam and I are all about to go do some exploring that we're hoping may be a lead on Danny. Worst case I guess we can make it seem like the ecto-filtrator backed up or malfunctioned or something and I'll try and help cover for things, but we'll have to make it look good because Mom and Dad are REALLY super uptight about maintenance for the portal. Keep me updated, though I might not be able to text back immediately, OK?**** Jazz looked out the window and noticed that the Black Bear was coming up shortly, so she tucked her phone away into her pocket and turned her attention to the other four in the car with her.

"And here we are. One super creepy abandoned gas station that may be haunted coming up on the left," Tucker chirped brightly as the large van pulled off the road and alongside the station.

* * *

A few states away, Vlad Masters entered a very well-hidden shell company of a shell company of an umbrella corporation that had become a subsidiary of Vladco several years ago, very much hoping that things would look favorable and that he could proceed with turning Daniel into his son in yet another way very soon. Of course, __just in case__ something were to go awry in the forthcoming process he wanted to have a medical team on standby, which had already been arranged well in advance under a cover story, and...backup insurance before everything happened. No savvy businessman operated without it, after all. As he always did, he'd arranged for the entire facility to be cleared out for the duration of his visit, not wanting his face seen by any of the rank and file employees and even the security team having to relent in the face of being pressured by an owner of 85% of the company's stock. Vlad walked a familiar, by now memorized path through the corridors, the air smelling vaguely like a hospital as the air wafted around in the wake of his brisk pace, his security badge causing the doors in the facility to open with soft beeps of assent as he proceeded through the dimly lit, deathly quiet facility.

As was the routine, he was eventually challenged further into the building's bowels by stronger security in the form of a thumb scanner, which he presented his thumb to in an almost annoyed gesture before it, too, granted him entry. He then took a steep, round metal staircase down to a final door, a biometric lock that required his eye, eagerly gazing into it before the door slid open with a gentle hiss. This room contained his pet project, his little personal addition to the company, and he was eager to see what progress had been made. Tonight would determine if his son became a halfa this coming weekend as scheduled or if things would need to be put off yet again, which would both annoy and disappoint Vlad to no end. He'd wanted Daniel old enough when it happened that the process wouldn't harm the boy beyond the transformation itself, but there had been over two years of delays at this point, and Vlad was ready for everything to be over with and to have his halfa son. He entered the room and studied the notes that the scientists had been instructed to leave him in front of each of the large tubes that lined the back wall of the room. Another batch was reaching maturity after nine long months, and it was time to check in on his backup plans to see if any had borne fruit at last.

 _ _Subject 1. DNA recombination attempted at 30 days in vitro gestation. Failure to thrive, unusually small size, no measurable increase in height or weight for last 180 days. DNA recombination and subject itself both markedly unstable, subject determined to be highly unviable, recommend termination.__ Vlad's mouth turned downwards in dissatisfaction as he read the simple note, already knowing that this one, too, would need to be disposed of, yet another failure to add to the long list. He sighed, shook his head and moved on to the next tube along the wall after checking the 'Agree' box that indicated to proceed with the recommendation.

 _ _Subject 2. DNA recombination attempted at 90 days in vitro gestation. No skin has grown on subject at all, DNA recombination unstable. Subject determined to be unviable, recommend termination.__ Vlad had had high hopes for this one, brows creased in annoyance as he once again ticked the box and moved on to the third tube.

 _ _Subject 3. DNA recombination attempted at 180 days in vitro gestation. Unusually large size, DNA recombination unstable. Subject determined to be unviable, recommend termination.__ Well, Vlad liked the size that he saw through the small view he had into the chamber, but he let out a growl of frustration as he read, once again, as he had so many times before, that the introduced DNA was remaining unstable, rendering the subject themselves unviable. Perhaps he __would__ have to put off turning his son into a halfa after all, _ _yet again__ , based on what he'd been seeing so far. If the process would wind up killing Daniel in the execution, after all, there was little to no point in it. He almost snapped the pen that he used to once again seal another one of his project's fates out of rage and frustration. __Why does this keep going wrong? What are we missing?__ His last hopes lay with the last two subjects in this batch, where he'd given the directive to take a different approach with them.

He walked over to Subject 4's tube, perking up when he saw an actual note instead of the usual three to four sentence recommendation to terminate. __Subject 4. Chromosomes altered to present XX instead of XY at start of cloning process. DNA recombination attempted at 210 days in vitro gestation. Slight failure to thrive, but not overly marked. DNA recombination slightly unstable, but given time, we may be able to mitigate/correct before finishing gestation period. Subject determined to be fully viable pending further work, recommend further time/research to mitigate/correct.__ Vlad couldn't help a grin as he, for once, was incredibly happy to mark the 'Agree' button. For now, this one could prove interesting, and perhaps even stable and useful, given money and time. It felt like, at long last, a step in the right direction, and he was hopeful as he moved onto the fifth and final subject.

 _ _Subject 5. Gestation completed before DNA recombination attempted. Specimen physically fourteen years of age at this point. DNA recombination a complete success, all markers normal and vital signs stable after procedure. Subject determined to be nominal, fully viable and ready to be awakened at any time that is suitable__. Vlad couldn't help a wicked grin that worked its way onto his face as he reached out and stroked the tank lovingly a single time before placing a call.

Now that he had his backup insurance, everything with Daniel could move forward as planned.


	6. Acceleration

Danny was really worried, because his dad seemed happy today. But...maybe _too_ happy? Was that even a thing?

The teen actually couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his father walk around with what seemed to be an almost permanent half-grin on his face, and Vlad had been _so_ cheery and upbeat at their usual breakfast together that Danny had been waiting for another shoe of some variety to drop for the entire morning, his stomach filled with agitated butterflies and his mind on full alert as he returned to his bedroom in the family mansion. Had his dad found out about Sam and Tuck? But if he had, then why was he being so weirdly nice? _I mean I'm not complaining and it's kinda awesome to see him relax for once, but_ man _, who spiked his coffee with pep pills this morning?_

Danny let out a breath and relaxed as soon as he entered his richly appointed and perfectly decorated Victorian-style bedroom, glancing around before settling in at his computer. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the decor, but he had to admit that the reds and creams the decorator had chosen _did_ look pretty nice with the antique furniture. _Maybe I should take advantage of this and talk to him about Sam and Tucker, or even try and arrange another trip out to Amity Park while he's in_ such _a good mood, too._ Tucker and Sam were a secret that Danny had been waiting to broach at the right time, and this seemed like a fortuitous moment while his father was in such oddly high spirits. Danny pulled out his cellphone and decided to consult them via their ongoing group text.

 **Hey, guys. Dad's in a super good mood, so I'm thinking about letting him know about you both, maybe even begging for another trip out there. Wanted to run it by you first, though.**

Tucker replied after a couple of minutes. **If you think you should, totally.** **Just don't want ya getting perma-grounded or something if he takes it the wrong way.**

 **Agreed,** chipped in Sam shortly after. **Tuck and I'd REALLY rather not wind up having to research you, know what I mean? But if it feels right, go for it. We're kinda busy right now, so we'll catch up on texts later.**

Danny suppressed a snicker, then groaned aloud at Sam's usual dark-tinted humor. **Yeah, I've kinda been waiting as you both know, and it seems like it's finally a good time. Wish me luck?** He then began to make the trek across the mansion towards his dad's office, hoping that the conversation would at least go alright before he heard what sounded like large stones grinding against each other in the library, as if someone was loudly rubbing cinder blocks together. _Huh? What the heck was that?_ Danny backtracked and poked his head into the large library, glancing around and not seeing anything amiss at first until he noticed that one of the large football statues above the fireplace was slightly ajar, tilted forward like it was about to fall. "Dad? You in here?"

Deciding to investigate further, he entered the library fully and going to straighten out the loose statue before realizing it looked...like the statue was actually a lever of some kind instead. _What the?_ Danny decided to pull down on it, the statue fully snapping back into place as the fireplace grate groaned, vanishing into the ground as a set of stairs slid into place where the grate had been earlier. "Whoa," he whispered under his breath at the sight before puzzlement got the best of the raven-haired teen and he decided to see what exactly was down this weird, hidden set of steps.

 _All according to my little plan. That's right, go on,_ thought a hidden specter watching Danny's progress with a sly, self-satisfied smirk as they hovered invisibly towards the library's ceiling. _You're almost there._

Danny wandered down the stairs, expecting a few different things, but absolutely _not_ what he was actually seeing. The first thing that leapt to his mind was 'mad scientist's lab' as he took in the tables of beakers, some still half-filled with colored liquids, of all shapes and sizes and the fact that the secreted room seemed to be entirely encased in steel. Even all of the tables were stainless along with the walls, and tons of various levers and switches were arranged on what looked like consoles or control panels in a half-circle that drew Danny's eye to what seemed to be the room's focal point- a massive, diamond-shaped door of some kind on the far wall, the entire room also bathed in a strange purple light.

 _OK, Dad, what the heck_ is _all this stuff, and why is this all buried and hidden like it is? And what in the world is this_ _door, some kind of bomb shelter?_ Danny noticed what looked like quite a few tubes and wires leading into the top of the door, some of those also looking connected to a few of the levers, buttons and switches that he'd noticed in the room. As if in invitation, the massive door suddenly slid open with a loud hiss, revealing what looked like a black metal tunnel behind it that led into nothingness. The curious cat nestled in Danny's mind heroically offered to sacrifice one of its lives in pursuit of understanding, Danny slowly wandering into the strange metallic tunnel and wondering how he could work in this strange, hidden room into a conversation with his father before lights suddenly flashed around him and his world filled with searing pain before he blacked out.

A green hand attached to a bejeweled wrist released the portal's activation button, the hand's owner smirking in victory before they encased Danny in a bright pink bubble. They then dragged him out of the tunnel before activating the portal again, then bringing the unconscious Danny through the portal to the Ghost Zone .

* * *

"I'm kinda gettin' worried, Tuck. It's been a while since D-um... _he_ said he was going to talk to you know who," muttered Sam under her breath with a frown as she studied her all-too-quiet cellphone while they tried to help Jazz, Maddie and Jack find anything suspicious or strange at the Black Bear. Tucker nodded grimly as they started inspecting a large-half-burned counter that still had a warped, old-fashioned cash register on it.

"Yeah, hope everything's good, but maybe he's just talking to him still," shrugged Tucker as he picked up and blew off what looked like a really old inventory book. They'd agreed to try and avoid even mentioning Danny's name out loud in deference to his request to keep his existence a secret. "Not finding anything interesting so far, though."

"Tuck, can you _please_ quit breathing on my neck while you're looking over my shoulder to see stuff? It's a perfect mix of _really_ creepy and _super_ annoying." Sam loosely waved her hand behind her head in an irritated gesture before Tucker replied...from across the room.

" _Uh_ , got some news for ya," replied Tucker as he blinked at his friend.

"OK, if that's not you, and Jack, Maddie and Jazz are all outside scanning and taking pictures...then..." Sam's eyes slowly widened as she felt, yep, what was _definitely_ warm breath washing across the back of her neck now and again as if someone- or some _thing_ , she realized with a now rising panic, was only a few inches behind her and studying her. She leapt towards Tucker with a yell as a massive black bear suddenly appeared almost right where she'd been standing. No, wait, Sam realized even through her alarm, _that_ wasn't a bear...bears didn't have shoulders that wide- _or_ brightly glowing green eyes and equally electric green inner ears. Its face shape was all wrong, too, much more canine than ursine, and it was wearing tattered, dirty clothing. The ghostly...whatever it was then slashed the air by it with a wicked set of bright green claws that seemed to materialize out of nowhere, some kind of strange, bright blue energy appearing as if the ghost's claws had torn holes in reality itself before the large ghost leapt into the energy and vanished.

"W-was that a bear? A _ghost_ bear?" Tucker finally muttered, still staring at the empty space.

Sam was still trying to process what had just happened, blinking in astonishment. "Actually, it looked like...a ghost _werewolf_."

"Did someone say ghost?! Are you kids alright?!" Maddy, Jazz and Jack all came barreling towards where they'd heard Sam yell.

"Yeah. I think Tuck and I just got to see firsthand how this place came to be called the Black Bear General Store, though." Sam shuddered a bit as Jazz offered her her jacket, huddling into her friend's coat and suddenly feeling incredibly chilly in spite of the bright spring day. "But _that_ was no bear."

Back at Fenton Works, Ember was trying desperately to figure out what was wrong with the portal before Box and Writer phased through the floor, much to her relief, because she didn't want Ghostwriter knowing that they were in the Fenton Works basement. "Thanks for agreeing to come, Writer. It's kinda _super_ important that we get this fixed before my friend and her family gets back here and sees this."

"Well I didn't exactly _agree, per se_ , but I'm here," replied Ghostwriter dryly as he studied the artificial portal after cleaning his glasses and putting them on. "Hmm, another of these eh? I thought the only two close to us were Plasmius's and _theirs_." His eyebrow rose as he flitted around the front of the dormant artificial portal. "Looks like it's simply shut off, frankly, though of course I have no direct experience with such a device. What exactly did you do it? Or rather, to be precise and accurate, what did _Box_ do to it?"

 _Whew._ Greatly relieved that Writer was more interested in trying to fix the portal than trying to determine whose it was for the time being, Ember nodded. "Well, we came through it like we usually do, but Box tripped and I think hit the shutoff button before the thing was ready or something. It suddenly threw out a lot of smoke, sparked a bit then just kinda...turned off."

Ghostwriter's eyes narrowed, his tone steadily filling with annoyance as he spoke. "Wait...like you _usually_ do? So you use this portal frequently and know how it works? Then why did you drag _me_ here to try and help fix it?"

Hastily hiding a Fenton Works- branded pen laying on a table by stuffing it under some random papers, Ember offered the other ghost a nervous smile along with Box. "Uh, because you can magic us up a fix with your awesome keyboard, right? _Please_?"

Ghostwriter shook his head. "I'm afraid not, _even_ if I were suitably convinced to. Desiree... _borrowed_ my keyboard without my permission a week or two ago, and now it's not working properly. As I explained to Box _before_ he decided to drag me here." He sighed. "I've been intending to perhaps have Technus look at it, but he tends to want some... _strange_ things in return, such as batteries. An _annoying amount_ of batteries, so I've been putting it off."

There was the sound of a door opening upstairs before running footsteps could be heard heading down the stairs, Ember quickly going invisible, grabbing Box and hiding under a table while Ghostwriter jetted into a closed floor-length cabinet.

"It's OK guys," Jazz called out before Ember, then Box made their appearances by materializing in midair, Sam and Tucker's jaws hitting the floor. "Ember, Box, these are my new friends Sam and Tucker. Tucker and Sam, meet my best friend Ember and my friend Box." Jazz then grinned and pointed a thumb at the stairway. "And now that we have introductions out of the way, let's block up the stairs a bit so we don't get interrupted while we work on fixing the portal. We can try and get some questions asked and answered while we're at it."

Ember smiled and waved before floating over to the cabinet and poking it. "Wanna give us a hand, Writer? It's cool to come out."

A sigh was followed by Ghostwriter also shimmering into existence after emerging from the cabinet, the writer crossing his arms and harrumphing before he started picking up odds and ends to block the door with along with the others.

* * *

Wulf glided through the Ghost Zone after his escape from the humans, trying to find another portal back out that would give him some distance before he noticed Desiree flying along with a satisfied smirk and what looked like a sleeping or otherwise indisposed black-haired human boy in a grey three-piece suit being dragged behind her in a magical bubble. " _Ĉi tio nur povas esti malbona_ ," he quietly mumbled before deciding to see what the woman was up to _this_ time, steering himself in that general direction while going invisible. He'd never much liked the wish-granter from their first meeting, with her constant dark smell of deception and lust for power.

He followed her until she paused in front of an unfamiliar, artificial Ghost Portal and pulled the boy through it. Wulf followed and took care to stay invisible as they arrived in what looked like some kind of building specially created to house said artificial portal, Wulf taking note of the still strong odor of damp, upturned earth filling the strange, vault-like steel room. Desiree gently placed the bubble down on the ground before taking off up through the roof, still wearing that knowing grin.

Whatever was going on, the boy _absolutely_ wasn't safe with the conniving genie-ghost, or probably even in this building considering that Desiree had taken the human to this place, Wulf knew that much, so he decided to do something about it while the young human was out of Desiree's clutches. The werewolf-like ghost jetted forward and tore Desiree's bubble apart with his claws before retracting them and gently lifting the boy onto his back, taking off in the other direction with him as the boy's strange scent, a perfect mix of ghost and human, filled Wulf's nose before they phased through the wall to the outside. As he took in the perfumes of the area, Wulf realized that they were actually fairly close to the burned-out building he usually hid while in the human world, something that could be very advantageous as he knew the territory well in that case.

For now, it was time to run and hide. He could attempt to explain things to the boy later, despite the likely language barrier.

Ten minutes later, Vlad Plasmius followed Desiree down into the newly constructed building that he'd paid so much for to get finished by this coming Saturday, _very_ upset that Desiree had taken Daniel's transformation into her own hands after he'd had such a careful plan along with an already woven and well practiced tale about ghost powers running in the family and Daniel's mother being kidnapped by ghosts and Vlad wanting to protect Daniel by trying to hide his family's true nature from him. If Daniel _had_ indeed successfully become a halfa thanks to the portal being turned on by Desiree while he was in it, there was no telling how Daniel would look as a ghost, and _that_ was just one reason among many that Vlad was agitated right now- he had planned to infuse Daniel with his own extracted ghostly DNA so that they would resemble father and son.

" _So_ I believe I've saved you a lot of time and trouble, Plasmius," began Desiree coyly. "Daniel _just so happened_ to stumble into your little lab downstairs in your mansion earlier and it just seemed like too good of a chance to pass up." She didn't, of course, feel the need to mention that she'd deliberately activated the stairway while Daniel had been walking by and also left the trophy not quite seated in hopes that the boy would find the lab. _He'll_ have _to give me the Skeleton Key now._

"Well I _had_ a plan in place that was going to be executed next week to turn him into a halfa, so frankly right now I _very much_ don't appreciate you jumping the gun like this," Vlad half-growled as he started to look around for Daniel. "You _absolutely_ should have come to me first before making this decision." Vlad's eyes narrowed as he glared at Desiree. "Also, I have my suspicions that you engineered this whole thing to begin with, and we _will_ be discussing it later. I'm well aware that you want to borrow the Skeleton Key rather badly, but this was _far_ out of the bounds of our little mutual agreement." He then frowned and quickly surveyed the room fully. "Where _is_ he? You said you left him here."

For the first time Desiree seemed a bit off-balance, glancing around as a bit of panic filled her tone as she, too, searched the room. "I _did_! You said you were going to do the procedure here, so I figured it would be the best place for him to wake up at." The genie frantically flew a circuit. "He was out cold, and I phased him in here so there's no way he could have gotten out."

"Desiree."

She turned her head upwards, actually fearful as Plasmius' tone and face filled with deadly malice.

"You have somehow managed to _lose_ my son after taking it upon yourself to accelerate one of my plans. And you are _going_ to find him. _Immediately_. Am I _very clear_?"


	7. Danny Phantom

Danny slowly opened his eyes and almost instantly panicked as he regained consciousness and looked around, noticing after the scent of damp earth filled his nose that he was in what appeared to be a small, natural rock cave- with absolutely _no_ idea how he'd gotten there. It was raining too, Danny hearing the gentle patter outside the cave's entrance and noticing the drips occasionally falling from the cave's entrance to the ground outside in the dull sunlight thrown through cloud cover. He then realized that he'd been resting on a 'pillow' made out of some random bundled up clothing he didn't recognize, and a large, well-worn yellow quilt had been carefully placed over him with a similar one underneath him- _someone_ had carefully tucked him into a makeshift bed while he'd apparently been out like a light.

He sat up and rubbed his head, moving the top quilt aside gingerly so as to not damage it further. _What the heck? The last thing I remember is going into that weird tunnel in the hidden room back at the house, then a flash of light and a_ lot _of pain..._ He got up and started trying to recall what exactly had happened as Danny began walking around the small space with a frown. _I must have gotten knocked out in that weird tunnel thing somehow and then taken here after- it's the only logical chain of events. But_ how _? And_ why _? And where exactly_ am _I_ _?_ _First things first, though- better call Dad and let him know I'm OK._

Danny felt in his suit's breast pocket for his phone- and _then_ remembered that he wouldn't have it on him because he'd been at home and had decided to leave it charging by his computer while he talked with his father. _Oh,_ good. _No GPS to figure out where I'm at and no way to contact Dad, who's probably having a total meltdown right now for good reason..._ Had he been kidnapped, maybe, the situation he and especially his father dreaded most? But if so, then why did this really not _feel_ like a kidnapping to him? Danny seemed quite free to leave out of the cave at any point, after all, there was also no one making threats to stay put and what he considered the final evidence against an abduction, he wasn't restrained in any way like he would have expected himself to be. There even seemed to be some kind of meal left for him that Danny noticed while he was poking around, a small, rickety wooden table at the very back of the cave having a can of baked beans on it that looked like they'd been freshly purchased sitting next to a metal can opener and a clean spoon.

 _EAT,_ _c_ ommanded his currently empty, cavernous teenage-boy stomach while it audibly growled as if a feral beast, and Danny decided to comply after checking the date on the beans and seeing that they were, indeed, new and the can wasn't bulging, unsealed or otherwise dangerous-appearing. _Nothing around here that I can find to heat it up with, but beggars can't be choosers right?_ Grateful to even have something to quiet his grumbling belly before he headed out into parts unknown outside in the rain in an attempt to figure out where he was, Danny lifted the can opener to quickly try and figure out how it worked- he'd only ever used an electric one and this one was just old-fashioned metal- before his hand suddenly disappeared after a flash of blue-white light covered it and the can opener fell to the cave's dirt floor with a soft thunk.

 _Wait, WHAT? That_ couldn't _have just happened...my eyes are playing tricks on me, I'm going crazy or maybe both of the above right?_ Danny's eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he slowly lifted his arm, then stared at the now empty space where his hand _should_ have been at the end of his wrist, his shocked mind finally, reluctantly conceding that yes, it _had_ happened and somehow, bizarrely and improbably, his right hand had simply _ceased to exist_ as of a few seconds ago. He grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, letting out a panicked yell or two at the top of his lungs and, OK, _also_ running around like a chicken with his head cut off because... _reasons, okay,_ it would help _somehow_ before he slowly found his mind filling with curiosity instead of sheer hysteria after a few high-decibel, half-flailing circuits of the cave. Danny frowned and slowly released his grip as he studied the stump where his hand used to be, realizing that as weird as a hand suddenly and completely painlessly going AWOL was... _shouldn't_ there be a large amount of blood coming out of the now-stump? And where the heck had his hand actually _gone_ , for that matter?

Then just as inexplicably as it had vanished, his hand reapparated into existence in the same weird flash of blue-white, which left Danny a brew of relieved and _highly_ perplexed as he gawked openly at the formerly errant appendage, which at least appeared none the worse for wear after its sudden, bizarre absence. He flexed it a few different ways and opened and closed it as if making sure that it really _was_ back and _was_ his hand, Danny's entire body relaxing as he watched and felt his newly returned extremity responding to his commands. _Uh, OK then...could the can opener have done something weird? It is secretly some kind of portal device into another dimension? And why does that question not seem as stupid to me as it would have a few minutes ago?_ He sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. _Oh right, because I just had my freaking hand VANISH into the Bermuda Triangle or something for a while after I touched the thing._

Danny walked back over to the table and stared down at the can opener, now glaring at it with both suspicion and worry, taking off his suit jacket and using the sleeve to pick up the too from the ground. _Let's try this again with hopefully less freaky stuff happening this time._ _OK, it looks like this is the part you stab into the can, and this is the turner here..._ It was kind of awkward using the opener while keeping it covered with his jacket, but Danny eventually got the job done and had just taken his first bite of food when a, to all appearances, WEREWOLF glided airborne into the cave from outside and landed inside of it towards the entrance. Wait, no, upon further reflection Danny decided to amend that to HOLY SHIT A **_GLOWING,_ _FLYING_** WEREWOLF.

 _OKAY WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW IS THIS SOME WEIRD DREAM I'M HAVING AND CAN I WAKE UP **PLEASE**_ was the first thought to bubble to the surface of the panicked, frenzied thoughts stewing in Danny's mind while he dropped his spoon in shock as the werewolf fully entered the cave. He now had no way out and no place to really run since the _GLOWING_ _FLYING WEREWOLF_ (!) was blocking the only ingress or egress, Danny backing himself up against the far end of the cave and closing his eyes, waiting for it to eat him with a nervous swallow before he heard a word he recognized...at least, he _thought_ he recognized?

" _Amiko_ ," the (very male-sounding) werewolf offered with what appeared to be a smile to Danny, seeming to realize that Danny was terrified and taking a step or two back from him. Danny's brows rose up in confusion. His father had included some conversational Spanish tutors regularly amongst Danny's lessons along with German and French less frequently, and he wondered if the massive, radioactive-looking werewolf was trying to say _amigo_. Was he possibly speaking Spanish, or at least trying to? Danny's heart still hammering in his chest and the roar of pumping blood washing in and out of his ears, Danny hesitantly threw out " _Por favor no me comas"_ , which only got him a look of utter confusion in response. _OK,_ not _Spanish then...but I'm_ also _still in one piece. Maybe Masters Munchies aren't on the menu after all?_ Danny still didn't dare to move, though he finally relaxed a bit as he still kept his back pressed against the far wall, waiting for the glowing werewolf's next move.

" _Angla_?" The werewolf placed a hand on his chest and smiled again. "Wulf. Friend." He then gestured to the open can and smiled, apparently trying to encourage Danny to eat. "For you."

"Um, thanks?" Danny finally decided to move, slowly kneeling down and picking up the spoon that he'd dropped and cleaning it off with his hand before placing his own hand on his chest. "I'm Danny, by the way." Danny realized that this 'Wulf' must have been the one responsible for the 'bed' he'd woken up in and the food. Was Wulf also the one that had brought him to the cave, though? Danny figured that was likely, considering everything else. So had Wulf been the one to kidnap him? _Was_ it even a kidnapping? Part of him was still very much wondering if he was having some kind of freakish fever dream as he gratefully and rather hurriedly polished off the can of beans before firmly pinching the top part of his hand. _OK,_ not _a dream._ Now that Danny knew the briefly missing hand and gently glowing werewolf in front of him were real and not products of his mind, he decided to start by trying to see what he could glean from Wulf. _Maybe I can try and ask a few questions, but since Wulf doesn't seem to speak much English that could be tricky._

And of course there was something Danny found himself even _more_ interested and curious about now that he wasn't worried about being eaten and his hunger was sated- what _was_ Wulf, exactly? His eyes were a strange, pupil-less electric green along with his inner ears, and the fact that he was also gently glowing seemed to point to him being something Danny doubted he'd find in any taxonomic textbook. Wulf was pretty obviously, well, a _werewolf_ which was odd enough all on its own, but the glowing and flying on top of it? Sam and Tuck seemed to be pretty into freaky supernatural stuff, maybe he could sneak a call to them or text them both and ask them what they knew about bio-luminescent, hovering lycanthropes. _Well, that is if I ever get back home to make that call. Speaking_ of _home, it's probably time to try and figure out where I'm at and then try and get in touch with Dad._

Danny started to walk towards the cave entrance and was just about to try and figure out how to ask Wulf where they were when he suddenly tripped after there was a flash of light near his feet. _Let me guess..._ He then went to get up and fell again before verifying his suspicions- _this_ time, it was his left leg from the knee down that had pulled a sudden, mysterious vanishing act, his pant leg now hanging slack from the bottom of his knee. Danny found himself much more intrigued than panicked about the second occurrence as Wulf walked over to help him up, now _really_ wanting to understand where his body parts were randomly vanishing to and why the heck it was happening. _Did something happen to me while I was passed out? Is_ that _what's going on? But what could have happened to me that suddenly enables my body parts to randomly wander off?_

" _Intangibilidad kaj nevidebleco,"_ Wulf muttered almost to himself after he helped Danny balance himself. " _Do vi estas fantomo ankaŭ,_ " he continued to Danny before seeming to mull the sentence over and attempting to translate it as best he could with his limited English as he supported the teen, pointing to Danny's leg with his free hand. "Danny phantom."

Danny blinked as the flash of light happened and he felt his leg make its expected reappearance. ' _Danny phantom'_? _Is he trying to say_ I'm _a phantom?_ _What does he mean by that, and could it be related to whatever's going on with me all of a sudden? It sure seems like it._ Now, Danny wanted to talk to Sam and Tuck more than ever to see what they thought- _if_ he could figure out how to get back home and get in touch with them, that was. At least for now, though, he seemed to be, and felt, safe with Wulf.

* * *

Desiree was absolutely fuming as she scanned the area, flying rapidly through the forest and trying to track down Vlad Plasmius's wayward son. _Doesn't he have an entire security team that could be doing this instead?_ Plus, the fact that a _man_ was ordering her around didn't sit well at all with her. Willingly working for Plasmius was one thing for Desiree, being harshly directed by him with implicit threats involved _quite_ another, the genie-ghost gritting her teeth in rage at the memory of the recent confrontation. Hadn't she made things infinitely easier for Plasmius? Yes, things had taken an unexpected turn, but surely the boy couldn't have gotten _that_ far, and he now had the halfa son he so desired.

Wish granted.

Although, now that she thought about it as she scouted the area...it _was_ strange, wasn't it? _Why_ would Vlad have had to actively formulate a plan and need to _engineer_ giving Daniel powers, like he'd been planning before her assistance? She wasn't exactly certain how 'halfas' as Vlad called himself worked and they seemed to require an exceedingly specific, very difficult to reproduce set of circumstances to come into existence from the details Vlad had provided her of his accidental creation, the very same minutiae she'd used to transform Danny into a halfa in fact. But shouldn't Daniel have inherited at least _some_ of the ghostly powers of his father simply through genetics and having Vlad _as_ said father? So why the need to concoct an elaborate scheme and 'turn' his son into a halfa? Perhaps figuring _that_ out would give her a little leverage- _and_ a bit of revenge depending on the answer she discovered and how she chose to use the information, Desiree grinning wickedly and liking the idea more and more as she thought about it while she continued her invisible search of the area.

Oh, she'd find the boy, all right. And _then_ solve that little mystery while she had him before informing Plasmius that she'd found him.

Wasn't Ember already busy digging around the Ghost Zone for someone or something for her pet human to boot? Maybe she could figure out a way to enlist Ember in her little search if she could come up with adequate reasons to broach the subject. Desiree _had_ brought Ember information and rumors from the ghost gossip chain a time or three, after all, so as far as Desiree was concerned Ember owed her at least _some_ assistance at this point and the more pairs of eyes looking around for the wayward Daniel Masters, the quicker he'd be found. It was also too bad that she'd somehow broken Ghostwriter's typewriter in the process of attempting to do an end-around around Vlad and trying to will another copy of the Skeleton Key into existence, because _that_ might have come in handy too if Ghostwriter could have written Daniel being teleported to her into reality, but she highly doubted that the reality-bending writer would help her now, after she'd damaged his toy while borrowing it without permission.

Yes, Desiree decided, _that_ was going to be her plan of action, her search of the area ceasing as the genie-ghost flew back towards the newly constructed artificial portal Vlad had recently built, Desiree flying back into the Ghost Zone and heading towards where Ember usually could be found. Now to come up with a good cover story about why she was searching for Daniel...Desiree's mind quickly settled on 'wish gone bad that _actually_ went bad enough for me to actively have to fix,' hoping she wouldn't even have to mention the boy's name as per Vlad's very implicit directions ( _another_ very interesting aspect regarding Plasmius' son that Desiree would need to dig into) before she saw Ember along with Box and Writer all flying by together in a loose formation.

"That was close- _too_ close. We got lucky that unseating and re-seating the ecto-filtrator got the portal working again before Jazz's parents decided to break the door down," grumbled Ghostwriter before he looked over at Ember with a glare. "Also, I'm _really_ not sure that I like so many humans knowing about me, so thanks for _that_ , too."

Ember rolled her eyes. "Look, Box and I _both_ apologized a ton already! It got fixed, we didn't get busted, everything's good." Ember _really_ didn't want to let Writer know just how close they'd come to a Close Encounter of the Jack and Maddie Kind.

"Well, _well_. If it isn't the exact musician I was looking for and her little tagalongs, one of which has probably been looking for _me_ ," called out Desiree sweetly as she flew up alongside them, receiving an annoyed glare from Ghostwriter and distrusting expressions from Ember and Box.

" _What did you do to my typewriter?_ " Ghostwriter demanded, getting directly in front of Desiree before Ember pulled him back a little.

"What do you want, Desiree? Got more info?" Ember was hoping the genie-ghost might have new information for her and Jazz. She _did_ frequently travel around the human world, after all.

Desiree shrugged. "Tell you what. You three do something for me, maybe _I'll_ do something for you in return. Like tell you exactly what I tried that caused your precious machine to break, Writer, and give you some juicy new gossip I've overheard that may help out your pet human, Ember." The fact that Desiree would likely have to make that gossip up didn't bother her too much.

Ember and Ghostwriter both stared at her as Box shrugged.

" _Ugh_. Fine, let's go to Writer's place since it's closest and talk," Ember finally replied before the four started heading for Ghostwriter's home.


	8. Setting Out

**Blackbird** : _ **Uh...Tuck?**_ _ **You know anyone at a 534 area code?**_

Sam glanced down at her ringing phone before pinging Tucker via their shared IM session on her computer, Danny sitting in an Idle status now several hours in duration as their third and final member. Neither of them had heard from Danny like he'd indicated they would after he revealed their friendship to Vlad, and now that they were both back at their respective homes from their morning excursion with the Fentons Tucker and Sam had been trying to reach him with a steadily growing dread, even risking a few actual phone calls along with pinging their shared IM chat and group text with no results.

 **Gadgeteer: _Negative, but my black belt in Google-fu tells me that's Wisconsin. Could be Danny needing to go incognito for some reason?_**

Sam's eyes narrowed as her phone rang again as she went to return the call, 'UNLISTED CALLER- 534-555-3845' flashing across her phone. _OK then, guess I'll just answer this call instead._

"Good morning, Miss Manson." The older male voice on the other end of the line oozed with charm and charisma even as some baser part of her brain prickled and placed her on high alert, Sam's eyebrow raising as she wondered what was going on. "I _do_ hope I'm not interrupting anything, but this is a matter of urgency."

"Um...hi? _Who_ is this, _why_ are you calling and _how_ do you have my phone number?" Sam let her annoyance show through, though she tempered it considering that whoever this was didn't _sound_ like your typical call center agent.

"Oh! Right, right, _do_ forgive me. I'm afraid I'm not _quite_ myself at the moment, how rude of me." The man cleared his throat. "This is Vlad Masters. I believe you know my boy, Daniel, though we've yet to meet or speak with each other."

Sam's eyes widened as she quickly gave Tucker a status update, tucking her phone under her chin:

 **Blackbird** : _**Oh MAN. It's VLAD.**_

 **Gadgeteer** **: _Yikes. Uh, keep me posted? Maybe Danny finished having that talk with him and now Vlad wants to talk to us?_**

"Yeah, I do know him." Sam wasn't exactly sure how much she wanted to reveal to Vlad, though if he started asking direct questions things could get tricky. Danny _had_ been ready to approach Vlad about her and Tuck from the last conversation they'd had, but she had no idea what, if anything, Danny had imparted _or_ if her friend had fashioned any kind of cover story about how they'd met.

"I'll come straight to the point- I'm wondering if either you or Mister Foley have heard from Daniel at all today." A bad feeling started creeping around the corners of Sam's stomach, gnawing lightly as it slithered around. Vlad's tone changed to crisp and professional as he continued, though there was definitely a worried undercurrent swirling beneath the older man's words. "We had our usual breakfast together, but while I was attending a few business meetings he appears to have slipped out of our home somehow. As best we can put together, none of my staff have sighted him since about ten A.M this morning."

The bad feeling started aggressively thrashing around and clawing, Sam sitting down on her bed as she processed the news, a frown of concentration settling on her features. _Well, I guess that explains why we never heard from him...but where could he be, and is he alright? What's going on?_ "I haven't. The last Tuck and I heard from him Danny wanted to tell you that he met us and was talking with us." _That_ much, Sam figured, she could throw out there without too much risk.

"Oh, my Little Badger's _always_ been fairly terrible at keeping a secret he's excited about, Miss Manson." Vlad chuckled warmly. "Between you and I, I've known about you and Mister Foley for a while, but frankly I wanted to give Daniel the chance to come to me about you both before I pressed the issue. I'm heartened to hear that he was going to make the correct choice, but _now_ I'm more concerned than ever if I'm honest. Has he spoken about any travel plans, or indicated any places around here in Wisconsin that he might want to go to?"

 _He_ did _mention he wanted to ask about coming here._ "I remember him saying something about wanting to take another trip out here in order to see Tuck and I, but only after you two had talked about everything." Sam's fingers fidgeted with the end of her comforter nervously thanks to a mix of worry and fear.

"Hmm. I appreciate the information and your honesty." Vlad seemed to be processing the news, the phone silent for a few seconds. "Please _do_ let me know if he gets in touch with you, and extend my request to Mister Foley as well. Quite bluntly, due to my... _worry_ you're the only friends he's got, and I would hope that if Daniel felt he couldn't turn to me about something for any reason he'd turn to the both of you." The older man cleared his throat. "The number I've called you from is my direct cellphone, and it never leaves my side. I don't care _what_ time it is, if Daniel _is_ out there and you wind up hearing from him or seeing him, _please_ let me know _immediately_. I'm not angry or upset if he decided he wanted to spread his wings a bit, I just want to know where he's at and that he's safe."

"Sure. I really hope he's okay." _Could_ _he have come out here? But Danny would've told us for sure...that doesn't seem right._ She guessed Vlad had reached out while operating under the assumption that Danny would have headed directly for both his friends _and_ a familiar area, and she had to admit that it was a pretty solid assumption to make under the circumstances.

"As do I, Miss Manson. Remember, this number can reach me at _any_ time. I'd be _highly_ appreciative if you could also provide it to Mister Foley and let him know what's transpired."

Sam walked back over to her computer and started typing furiously, beginning to relay what had happened. "Of course. I'll let Tuck know as soon as we're done."

"Thank you. I need to be getting back to the search over here now, but _please_ keep in touch." Vlad ended the call and Sam quickly finished summing things up:

 **Blackbird** : _**This is pretty bad, Tuck. It sounds like Danny hasn't been seen since right about when he told us he was going to talk to Vlad about us, if I'm figuring the time zone difference correctly- Vlad apparently knew about us already and was hoping you or I had heard from him. He gave me his personal cell to call and asked me to give it to you too-** **534-555-3845. He said to call right away if we hear from or see Danny, and that he's not mad, he just wants to know that he's OK and where he's at.**_

 **Gadgeteer** **: _Oh man, that doesn't sound good at all. Hope Danny's OK. Maybe we should go out and check the camp site he let us use while we still have daylight left to do it? He said the bodyguards didn't know about it, right? If Danny IS hiding out for some reason and is ducking his dad, I bet that'd be the place he'd pick to do it._**

 **Blackbird** : _**That's an awesome idea, Tuck! Meet you at the park in ten to start the hike?**_

Sam suddenly gasped aloud, then felt relieved as she watched Danny's status in the chat flip from 'Idle' to 'Active' and ' _GhostFriend is Typing' start_ flickering at the bottom of the chat.

 **GhostFriend: _Don't have long, I'm on a public computer at the Drury Library, but I'm OK, I think._** _ **I'm in Amity Park somehow.**_ ** _I'm sure Dad is totally freaking out, can't call him because I don't have my phone on me. I'm trying to finish an Email to Dad right now before my time's up, but just in case because this machine's so slow can one or both of you please call_** _ **534-555-3845 and let him know I'm OK? I'll explain who you guys are to him later- we never got to have that talk I was planning before uh, whatever the heck happened happened.**_

 **Blackbird: _Whoa WHAT? What exactly happened? How are you here in Amity? And where EXACTLY here in Amity? Tuck and I can meet you._**

 _He_ thinks _he's OK?_ That turn of phrase greatly worried Sam.

 **GhostFriend:** _ **Actually? I'm STILL not quite sure HOW exactly I got here. I have a new friend with me who's been taking care of me, although he doesn't speak much English. Also he's a- well. I think you're both just gonna need to see it to believe it, and there's something ELSE I really need to talk to you guys about too. We'll be waiting at the library. Gotta go now, they're already nagging me to get off because there's a line waiting. Do you guys know where this library is?**_

 **Gadgeteer: _On the way._**

 **Blackbird:** _ **Be there as soon as we can. Rendezvous at the creepy pine tree, Tuck?**_

 **Gadgeteer: _Sounds good, be there in about ten._**

Sam frantically grabbed her coat after putting on her shoes, relieved that Danny was alright but at the same time puzzled about her friend's sudden appearance a good few hundred miles from his home in Wisconsin. How could Danny not know how he made the trip? She hoped that once she, Tuck, Danny and whoever Danny's new friend was got together that they'd be able to put their heads together and solve that riddle. "Going out again, have my phone on me!" she called out to no one in her family in particular before she put on her coat and set out northeast for what she knew was a fairly short walk.

* * *

"Alright, Desiree. _What_ do you want, and _what did you do_?" Ghostwriter half-snapped at the genie-ghost after the group arrived, Ghostwriter levelling an expression at her that could have killed if she weren't _already_ dead. He stood over the casually reclining Desiree, trying (and succeeding) in being as intimidating as he could. "It _had_ to have involved something powerful, _and_ likely something magical, because _physically_ my typewriter looks fine. So _talk._ " The trio was in what he called the 'living room' of his library-house, which was really little more than a library room with _slightly_ less books than normal and a Victorian-style red velvet sofa and love seat parked on either side of a wooden coffee table.

Desiree smiled coyly and wagged her finger, currently elegantly laying lengthwise across the love seat, looking for all the world like a sly, content queen holding court. "Ah, ah, _ah_ , not _quite_ so fast, my _dear_ Writer. I'm _very_ glad to give you that information, but as I said, _I_ need something from _you_ all first. Help me and that information is all yours, no favors _or_ strings attached, genie's promise. And I'll also provide you all with something I _may_ have turned up about your pet human's obsessive little search, Ember. We can merely consider it an equal exchange of information." She delicately waved her hand back and forth. "What _I_ need is some help with a search, in particular for a human that may have found his way here to our sector of the Ghost Zone... _unintentionally_."

Ember rolled her eyes in a mix of annoyance and 'Seriously?', an irritated huff escaping the spectral rocker as she crossed her arms, her tone filled with exasperation as she replied. "Lemme take a _wild_ guess, you messed with a human's wish like you like to do and now he's stuck here because of it."

"Oh _my_ , aren't you clever. Afraid you've gotten it in one," Desiree began with a sly smirk. "I also found out that, well, this human has... _connections_ here _,_ so it's in _all_ of our best interest to get him back home as soon as we can."

Writer's eyes narrowed as he crossed his own arms, his face a mask of irritation and the snippiness he was feeling clear in his words. " _What_ connections, and _why_ do they matter? Plenty of us in the Ghost Zone still know people among the living."

Desiree's response was a single word, a name, that name having _exactly_ the effect that she'd hoped for. "Plasmius."

Ember's eyes widened as Box cowered a bit, her posture changing from vaguely angry to on alert. "Whoa. Okay, how's _he_ tangled up in this?" Plasmius was a quietly whispered name among the area's ghosts, that moniker attached to an _incredibly_ powerful, cunning specter who no one really seemed to fully know _or_ understand. All that was clear to the quadrant at large was that Plasmius had a strange aura of some kind according to those who'd encountered him, very much kept to himself and was quite busy poking around Pariah Dark's castle like a bloodhound on a scent, had been for _years_ in fact, and any questions to him- _or_ warnings that even dormant, the ruins of Pariah Dark's old palace held incredible power and best to steer clear of them- were met with either sharp derision on a good day or nasty attacks from several perfect duplicates on a bad day. "That guy's messin' with _Dark's castle_. No thanks if _he's_ part of this."

"And I'm sure that knowing _that_ , you can understand why I think it prudent to find this wayward human as soon as possible," replied Desiree evenly. "Who knows? Plasmius seems rather powerful, and maybe he'll even be inclined to owe us a favor for it." She didn't feel overly inclined to reveal that she knew _far_ more about Vlad Plasmius, or Vlad Masters when he was human, than she was letting on. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have put myself in a position to overhear his wish." Desiree was pleased at how glibly that outright lie rolled off her tongue.

Writer grimaced. " _Ugh_. I just want to know what you did to my typewriter, so give us a name and let's just get this over with already. And you had _better_ keep your end of things. Don't think that just because I'm without my typewriter currently it means that I'm without weapons and powers at my disposal."

"Oh yeah, and any Ghost Portals that were near would probably help too." Box's face and tone became serious. "They are _round_ and _untrustworthy_ and the Box Ghost does not like using them very much, but the Box Ghost will embrace the circle to help his friends and Desiree."

"Uh, thanks Box." Jazz offered him a pat on the back and smile before turning back to Desiree. "But yeah, a name and nearby portals would help. And I'm bringin' Wildfire just in case." Her purple, flame-emblazoned guitar materialized in her hand, Ember placing it into her back via a strap.

"Good idea. I'll bring my type-OH. _Wait_ ," Writer darkly snarked in Desiree's direction. "Fortunately for you, in addition to our usual abilities I have other means of attack and defense." He quickly flew through the library and plucked a few books from the shelves, tucking them into a book bag before hefting it over his shoulder. "Now let's get going."

 _Perfect. I love it when a scheme comes together._ "I believe the closest portal would have been over by the Far Frozen. Shall we?"

"Wait. You never gave us his name," yelled Ember in protest at everyone's suddenly rapidly retreating figures before she joined them in the high speed journey towards Frostbite's realm.


End file.
